Coronavirus testing sites open at Dublin Airport

Two coronavirus testing facilities are opening at Dublin Airport.

Passengers and the general public will be able to take either a drive-through or walk-in test.

The sites will initially have the capacity for up to 12,000 tests per day, but the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) said this will soon be increased to 15,000.

The facilities will be operated by healthcare firms Randox and RocDoc, and both polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) testing will be available, with prices starting at 99 euro.

Sophie Boyd, project manager for Randox’s testing service at the airport, said: “We have significant capacity in place to implement high volume PCR testing, which is currently the only method of Covid-19 testing recognised and approved by every country worldwide.”

DAA managing director Vincent Harrison said: “We have been keen to provide testing at Dublin Airport for some time and the Government’s recent decision to grant planning exemption, which we strongly welcome, will enable two testing facilities to open this Thursday.”

There is fresh demand for travel-related Covid-19 testing following the introduction of the EU traffic light system in Ireland and across Europe.

Several countries now require travellers to have had a negative Covid-19 test prior to their journey.

Mr Harrison said opening the testing facilities at Dublin Airport is “a very positive step to help people travel safely and meet emerging rules both at home and abroad”.

The State is advising the public to “exercise a high degree of caution” if travelling to countries covered by the EU traffic light system.

For countries not covered by the system, the advice is to “avoid non-essential” travel.

Currently, people arriving in Ireland from “green” countries do not have to take extra precautions under the traffic light system.

Those coming from “orange” countries or regions will not have to restrict their movements on arrival if they have tested negative no more than three days prior to their arrival.

Passengers arriving in Ireland from so-called red countries must restrict their movements for 14 days.

But from November 29, they can stop restricting their movements after five days if they have a negative PCR Covid-19 test.