Ireland will quarantine British travellers because of the UK's 'significantly poorer' response to the coronavirus

• Ireland is set to place a new coronavirus quarantine on British travellers due to the high levels of the virus in the UK.
• The UK is "highly likely" to be excluded from plans for "air bridges" to countries with low infection rates.
• Just 6 coronavirus deaths were recorded in Ireland on Wednesday compared to 154 in the UK.

Ireland will place a new quarantine on British travellers next month, despite removing restrictions from other international arrivals, because of the UK's "significantly poorer" response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Ireland has suffered a much lower coronavirus death toll than the UK, with just 1,726 fatalities to date, compared to more than 43,000 in the UK.

As a result, British travellers will be excluded from plans to accept more international travellers to Ireland from next month.

Under current rules, visitors to Ireland have to remain quarantined for 14 days in order to prevent the further importation of the virus into the country.

However, Dublin is set to exempt a series of countries from the restrictions next month as part of its plan for so-called "air bridges" to countries with low coronavirus infection rates.

However, it is "highly likely" that the UK will be excluded from the safe travel list due to its "significantly poorer" response to the pandemic, according to a leaked government memo seen by the Irish Independent newspaper.

The Cabinet memo says "mandatory restricted movement" will be placed on countries, such as the UK, where levels of the coronavirus remain high.

The decision is particularly striking given the long-standing Common Travel Area between the two countries allowing free movement across the Irish Sea.

Boris Johnson's government is currently reviewing the UK's quarantine arrangements under plans to revive the country's tourism industry.

Under the plans, multiple European countries, including former coronavirus hotspots such as Italy and Spain, are set to be removed from the current 14-day quarantine.