Three Covid-19 outbreaks have been linked to overseas flights, with two involving 'variants of concern.'

It comes as the Department of Health confirmed that vaccinated people still need to enter mandatory hotel quarantine when they arrive here.

A department spokesperson said three COVID-19 outbreaks in the past fortnight have been linked to overseas flights – two of these outbreaks involve possible 'variant of concern' cases which remain under investigation.

They said there is some evidence that people who have already been vaccinated have subsequently been diagnosed with a variant.

It comes after the Transport Minister Eamon Ryan told Newstalk that fully vaccinated people could soon be exempt from mandatory quarantine.

Currently anyone travelling from a list of 59 countries is required to quarantine in a designated hotel for two weeks and show evidence of a negative PCR test.

On Friday, Cabinet agreed to add 16 states to the list of high-risk countries subject to mandatory hotel quarantine amid concerns over coronavirus rates and variants.

Meanwhile, the Health Minister confirmed last night that Albania, Israel and St. Lucia have been taken off the travel list.

Stephen Donnelly said a small number of people who arrived in Ireland from the three states in recent days, can now leave mandatory hotel quarantine as soon as they want.

From 4am on Thursday, the US and Canada, as well as a number of EU countries including France, Belgium and Italy will be added to the mandatory hotel quarantine list