-Ireland added the United States, Canada, Belgium, France and Italy to its list of countries where arrivals will be subject to mandatory hotel quarantine, tightening some of Europe’s toughest travel restrictions to try to stop the spread of Covid-19.

Ireland, the only one of the European Union’s 27 countries to introduce a hotel quarantine, announced it will also require all arrivals to have booked a Covid-19 test for five days after landing in addition to one taken in the days before travelling, Reuters reported.

It followed neighbouring Britain in bringing in the regime for people from countries deemed “high risk” or those without a negative Covid-19 test. However, Britain has so far resisted calls for the inclusion of some European countries.