Taoiseach dubious Covid-19 restrictions will be lifted on May 5

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said that he “does not know” whether the government will be able to relax the current restrictions, which are in force until next month.

Varadkar said any changes to the restrictions will be gradual and will happen for several months.

Speaking at the Dáil on Thursday, Varadkar also sent his condolences to the 444 people who died from Covid-19 in Ireland.

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“In the coming times there are three questions that we must consider as Oireachtas,” added Varadkar.

“The first: when we can begin to lift the current restrictions and begin to return to normal little by little.

“The second is what we need to do to get people back to work and revive and rebuild our economy.

“The third is how we can take what we have learned in the past few weeks and some of the things we have done to build a better society after Covid-19, and how we can honor the sacrifices made in each community.

“The answer to the first question is unfolding as we speak, based on expert opinion. We have the advantage of being able to look at other countries that are a few weeks ahead and see how their strategies work or not.

“I still don’t know if we can relax the restrictions on May 5. I know that if we can, it will be gradual and it will happen for several months.”

Varadkar said that only a scientific breakthrough, a vaccine or an effective antiviral medication will allow life to return to normal.

He added: “However, other advances, such as a reliable antibody test, could really help, and I am optimistic about the ability of brilliant minds at our international pharmaceutical companies and universities to offer.

“The new and third questions must be answered by the new government, and each person in this Oireachtas will have a role to play in shaping those answers, whether they are part of the government or play a constructive role in the opposition.”

Varadkar added that the government’s “primary priority” in the coming days and weeks is to protect and survive as many people as possible and to minimize loss of life.

The current crisis affecting nursing homes across the state was also raised by political parties.

Sinn Féin’s Pearse Doherty said about 200 groups have been identified in nursing homes.

He noted that the 245 people who died in Covid-19 nursing homes account for more than half of all coronavirus deaths in Ireland.

Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin said he knows of a nursing home that the Health Department has told him not to provide information on the number of coronavirus cases at the center.

Mr. Martin claimed that nursing homes did not receive the same care as acute care hospitals and were “significantly left behind” in government planning.

Doherty described the nursing home cases as a “massive crisis.”

Doherty told the Dail: “It is a huge problem that we must address and we need some transparency regarding this.”

“We know that staff in the sector has been posing serious problems in terms of PPE in particular for quite some time, and when we speak to HSE officials, they tell us there is nothing to see here.

“Unfortunately, we know from some of the revelations that there is a lot to see.”

It occurs when new HSE figures show that the number of critical care patients with confirmed or suspected Covid-19 cases is showing signs of leveling off.

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Figures released Thursday show that 142 people with confirmed cases of Covid-19 were in critical care, while 27 suspected cases were also in critical care beds.

Of the confirmed cases, 94 patients were on ventilators last night.

The patterns show that the number of people in critical care has been stabilizing for almost a week.

St James’s Hospital and Tallaght Hospital in Dublin have the highest number of critical care patients.

While there were a total of 127 empty critical care beds across the country at 6.30 p.m. Wednesday, Tallaght Hospital was one of seven hospitals that were at full capacity.

The figures also show that the number of coronavirus cases admitted to hospitals across the country is beginning to level off with a total of 846 people needing hospital care.

The HSE report indicates that the number of patients admitted to hospitals and awaiting Covid-19 test results is also decreasing.

It occurs when the number of deaths from Ireland’s coronavirus rose to 444 on Wednesday, with 38 more deaths reported in the past 24 hours.

One of those who died was 23, the youngest victim in Ireland to date.

There were 1,068 new confirmed coronavirus cases in Ireland, bringing the total since the outbreak began to 12,547.