ROI to ask British travellers for negative Covid test

Travellers into the Irish Republic from Britain will be required to produce a negative coronavirus test.

The new rule also applies to those arriving from South Africa and is set to come into practice from Saturday.

Those arriving will have to show officials that they have had a test with a negative result in the previous 72 hours.

It has also been agreed that the travel ban from Britain and South Africa will be extended for 48 hours.

That had been due to come to an end on Tuesday night.

A similar ruling on negative Covid-19 tests will also be applied to other countries at a later stage.

'Very serious'

It comes as there were 17 additional deaths of people with coronavirus confirmed in the Irish Republic on Tuesday.

The National Public Health Emergency Team also reported 5,325 confirmed new cases of the virus.

The Irish government has also moved to curtail the construction sector in the country, with a majority of projects to close for the month of January, according to RTÉ.

There are exceptions in place for some social housing builds as well as essential refurbishment.

The taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister) Micheál Martin described the situation as "very serious" and said the spread of the disease had "exceeded any expectation".