Ireland is now designated an ‘Orange’ country under the EUs ‘Traffic Light’ system for international travel.

The latest map from the European Centre for Disease Control designates Ireland as Orange alongside part of Norway, Finland and Iceland.

The Canary Islands and some of the Greek islands are also orange.

The rest of Europe is now designated red except for Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales – which are either not testing enough of their populations or have not published enough data on their testing systems.

The latest ECDC European traffic light map for international travel.

Under the system, countries are designated ‘Red,’ ‘Orange’ or ‘Green’ depending on their COVID-19 rates and testing positivity.

Passengers from Green regions can travel without restriction.

Each country has been asked to put in place its own system of restrictions for passengers travelling from Orange or Red regions.

The EU Traffic Light system. Image: Department of Foreign Affairs

Under the plan, regions are designated green if they have a 14-day rate below 25 and a positivity rate below 4%.

Regions with a 14-day below 50 are designated orange provided their positivity rate is above 4%.

However, they can have a 14-day rate as high as 150 if their positivity rate is less than 4%.

All other regions are designated red.

Of the 77,292 tests carried out in Ireland in the past week, 3.8% have come back positive.

Airport testing

It comes as Dublin Airport today opened its first coronavirus testing centre.

The Drive-thru centre offers three types of test, including the PCR test, which is the same as that offered by the HSE.

A walk-in centre is also due to open next week. Combined the centres will have capacity to carry out 12,000 tests per day.

Passengers are advised to find out what type of test the country they are travelling to requires before making any booking.

The centres are also open to the general public.

Airport testing centres have already been opened at Cork and Shannon airports.