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Tánaiste Leo Varadkar has said that the “worrying” increase in coronavirus infections in Dublin would require additional restrictions and a “different response” than in the rest of the country.
The government is due to announce a new five-tier alert plan to deal with the virus on Tuesday, with the expectation that the country will rank at Tier Two, the second most benign response, with additional restrictions planned for Dublin and possibly the county. . it is set to a level three escalated restriction.
The leaders of the coalition party will meet on Monday afternoon. There will also be a cabinet subcommittee meeting on the Covid-19 response with the acting medical director, Dr. Ronan Glynn.
Expressing concern about a 20-fold increase in Covid-19 cases in Dublin in the space of a few weeks, Mr Varadkar said the Government would make a decision on the restrictions on Tuesday.
“While that has not yet resulted in a dramatic increase in people in hospitals or ICUs or deaths, the truth is that it will probably head in that direction if we do not overcome it,” he said.
The incidence of Covid-19 in two areas of Dublin has risen above the 100 per 100,000 mark for the first time since spring, new figures show.
The 14-day incidence of the virus is now 101.9 per 100,000 people in southeast Dublin and 100.6 in northwest Dublin, according to the latest epidemiological report from the Center for Health Protection Surveillance.
Indeed, this means that approximately one person in every thousand in each area has contracted the disease in the last fifteen days.
A total of 1,068 cases were reported in Dublin during the two-week period ending last Friday.
During a visit to a leisure center in Naas, Co Kildare to announce a new grant for the reopening of businesses across the country, the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment said he was observing the situation in Spain and Madrid, where it has produced an increase in new infections and hospitalizations due to Covid-19.
“We don’t want to go there. There is an opportunity to turn the curve again, to flatten the curve again in Dublin, and tomorrow we will have to make a decision as a Government on what combination of additional restrictions will be required in Dublin, ”she said.
“Based on the data, based on the evidence, the situation in Dublin is markedly different from the rest of the country and that will require a different response.”
This should be taken into account when it comes to whether the government will approve the reopening of Dublin’s “wet bars” that do not serve substantial meals on September 21, he said.
Varadkar said the government was not considering the restricted movements experienced in the March-April shutdown in any part of the country, but that “some regions and some counties are going to suffer from some local restrictions that were seen in Kildare, Laois and Offaly.”
His message to any county that “may be moving towards additional restrictions like Dublin” is that the public can suppress the virus if people work together, he told reporters.
Varadkar said the government was considering introducing a lower set of fines, in the tens or hundreds of euros, than is currently allowed in the legislation for non-compliance with Covid-19 public health guidelines for gatherings in homes.
He said he believed the “most effective” policy when it came to suppressing the virus was one of “persuasion” and “trying to lure people to us” rather than “turning Ireland into a police state by imposing strict laws and fines. and lock up people. “
Varadkar said the state was entering “a cat and mouse game” with the virus that involved “local restrictions of different levels that are activated and deactivated over the next few months.”
There was “hope on the horizon” with the progress being made in developing a vaccine.
“There is increasing confidence that in the first half of the new year we will be in a position to vaccinate older people, people at higher risk and health workers, and that could change things,” he said.
The Tánaiste said the government “will have to allow us flexibility over the next few months” to change the medium-term plan, if the facts and science about the virus change.
Dublin South East, which runs from Baggot Street through Rathmines and Ranelagh to Leopardstown and Sandyford, recorded 126 new cases. Northwest Dublin, which stretches from Cabra to Mulhuddart and includes many newly built areas in West Dublin, recorded 209.
In South Dublin, by contrast, there were 44 new cases, yielding a 14-day incidence of just 32.3. Sligo, with 4.6, has the lowest incidence of the disease in the county, followed by Cork, with 8.1.
In total, 2,016 new cases were reported in the Republic, giving a national incidence of 42.34. Some 58 patients were hospitalized and two were admitted to the ICU, and there were four deaths among the confirmed cases.
The HSE says there were 57 Covid-19 patients in the hospital Sunday night, including seven new admissions during the previous 24 hours. Ten confirmed cases are in the ICU and eight with ventilators.
Within the hospital system, 59 critical care beds and 439 general beds are available.
Meanwhile, the latest update from the European Center for Disease Control shows that the incidence of the disease is twice that in Germany or Sweden.
Ireland currently reports a 14-day incidence of 45.4 to the ECDC, compared to 21.7 in Germany and 22.7 in Sweden.
Most countries in Europe are currently experiencing an increase in cases: the UK reports an incidence of 51.1 and Spain has the highest rate, at 270.7.
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