Israel, St Lucia and Albania will all be removed from the Government's Mandatory Hotel Quarantine list this week.
The three countries were removed from the list following continued criticism of the mandatory hotel quarantine system.
The Department of Health said on Sunday that St Lucia, Israel and Albania would all be removed from the list due to the epidemiological situation in those nations.
Meanwhile, a significant number of countries are set to be added to the list in the coming days.
A statement from the Department of Health read: "The Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly TD, has today revoked the designations which have been in place for arrivals from Albania, Israel and St. Lucia under the system of mandatory hotel quarantine.
"This change is on the advice of the Acting Chief Medical Officer who in turn is supported by an Expert Advisory Group on Travel.
"Having regard to the substantially improved epidemiological situation in the states concerned, arrangements have been made on an exceptional basis for the small number of persons who have arrived in Ireland from any of these three states in recent days, and who have not been in any other designated state in the 14 days before their arrival in Ireland, to be permitted to leave mandatory hotel quarantine as soon as they wish.
"The legal requirement for such travellers to quarantine at home for 14 days, unless he or she has obtained a 'not detected' PCR test on Day 5 or later after arrival in Ireland remains."
Minister Donnelly said: “Ireland’s system of mandatory hotel quarantine is a key element in the protection of public health, especially during the present critical period for our Covid-19 vaccination programme.
"In the coming days, I intend to designate a number of additional states so as to ensure that Ireland is protected as far as possible from importation of Variants of Concern, which pose a significant risk to our fight against this disease.”
The additional countries and territories which the Minister intends to add to the list are: Bangladesh, Belgium, France, Italy, Kenya, Luxembourg, Pakistan, Turkey, the USA, Canada, Armenia, Bermuda, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Curaçao, Maldives, Ukraine.
Here's the updated list in full:
Africa
- Angola
- Botswana
- Burundi
- Cape Verde
- Democratic Republic of the Congo
- Eswatini
- Ethiopia
- Lesotho
- Malawi
- Mozambique
- Namibia
- Nigeria
- Rwanda
- Seychelles
- Somalia
- South Africa
- Tanzania
- Zambia
- Zimbabwe
New countries to be added from April 15
- Kenya
Asia
- Bahrain
- Jordan
- Kuwait
- Lebanon
- Oman
- Palestine
- Qatar
- The Philippines
- United Arab Emirates
New countries to be added from April 15
- Bangladesh
- Maldives
- Pakistan
Europe
- Andorra
- Austria
- Kosovo
- Moldova
- Monaco
- Montenegro
- North Macedonia
- San Marino
- Serbia
New countries to be added from April 15
- Armenia
- Belgium
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
- France
- Italy
- Luxembourg
- Turkey
- Ukraine
North America
- Puerto Rico
New countries to be added from April 15
- Bermuda
- Canada
- United States of America
Oceania
- Wallis and Futuna
South America
- Argentina
- Aruba
- Bolivia
- Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba
- Brazil
- Chile
- Colombia
- Ecuador
- French Guiana
- Guyana
- Panama
- Paraguay
- Peru
- Suriname
- Uruguay
- Venezuela
New countries to be added from April 15
- Curaçao
