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The government is expected to decide by the end of the week whether additional restrictions are required in four more counties after a spike in Covid-19 cases Sunday night.
430 more cases of Covid-19 were confirmed in the state, the most cases in a day since 701 cases were reported on April 26, while the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) reported no additional deaths.
High-level government sources have described the figures as “very worrying” and have expressed concern about the increasing pressure on the capacity of the health service.
Health Service Executive Director Paul Reid made a “call to arms” to the public on Sunday, saying 110 patients were hospitalized with coronavirus, including 18 in intensive care. Mr Reid said that the current level of pressure on the healthcare service was as significant as it was during the worst Covid-19 spike, as “we are now trying to keep all of our other services running as well.”
Dublin in October
Government figures said that while there are currently no NPHET meetings planned until Thursday, it was “too early to call” whether or not restrictions would be eased in Dublin in October. Donegal is also at Level 3 in the government’s plan for living with Covid-19.
In terms of additional restrictions for other counties, public health teams are closely monitoring the situation in Cork, Wicklow, Galway and Louth.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin will launch a new brochure on Monday to be distributed to two million households as the government tries to convey the message that “there is no time for complacency.”
Meanwhile, nurses and healthcare workers who had to use their vacations to care for children when schools and daycare centers closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic appear to receive this license.
Holiday measure
The Irish Organization of Nurses and Midwives told its members over the weekend that the health services directorate had accepted the new measure in principle, although details of how such a plan would work in practice were still being worked out.
The number of workers who could benefit from the new initiative is unknown, but some sources suggested that it could reach thousands.
Separately, the “green list” of trips will change from Monday.
The countries on the updated list are Cyprus, Latvia, Finland and Liechtenstein. Germany, Poland, Iceland and Lithuania are no longer on the list.
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