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UPDATED: 2.20pm
Additional reporting by Vivienne Clarke.
Tánaiste Leo Varadkar has said that a decision will be made today on the imposition of additional restrictions on border counties following the new restrictions for Northern Ireland previously announced.
The North Executive met yesterday to discuss increasing the measures, confirming four weeks of greater restrictions, including the extension of the midterm recess to close schools for two weeks.
Speaking to RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Mr Varadkar said: “We do our best to coordinate and cooperate as much as possible and obviously the incidence of the virus in Donegal, Cavan and Monaghan is very, very high.”
“We will have to make a decision, probably sometime today, whether we should respond with greater action in the border counties as well.”
The National Public Health Emergencies Team (Nphet) will meet tomorrow to discuss whether the Level 3 restrictions have done enough to slow the spread of the virus, or if a recommendation for further action is needed.
This comes as the medical director warned that Ireland is now dealing with “widespread” community transmission, while the Irish College of General Practitioners clinical leader on Covid-19, Dr Mary Favier, warned that the government is inevitable have to introduce more restrictions to fight the virus.
Dr. Tony Holohan says it has become “a whole population problem” and has called on all individuals, families and workplaces to act on public health councils.
Yesterday 811 new cases of the virus were confirmed, spread over the 26 counties. 70 percent of the registered cases corresponded to people under 45 years of age, with the median age being 30 years.
Professor Emer Shelley of the Royal College of Physicians says it’s not just a problem for border counties.
“The numbers have risen quite a bit in Cork, for example, and hospital consultants have seen an increase in admissions and an increase in ICU numbers, and that’s just one example.
“There really is a lot of transmission and it is one that we will have to watch very closely.
Speaking on RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland, Dr Favier said more needs to be done as the virus doubles every week and there is an inevitable impact on services.
People had to change their behavior or more restrictions will be required, now there was very little time to decide that, he said.
More restrictions for three to four weeks would impact the numbers, Dr. Favier said, adding that people would accept it if they knew the end was in sight.
Dr. Favier noted that the public responded dramatically and put their shoulder behind the wheel in April, they had to do it again. Employers should allow staff to work from home whenever possible, adding that there should be no unnecessary travel and that people should meet outdoors.
GPs had been seeing an increase in number in recent weeks and this was having an impact on services. While there was some stabilization in Dublin below Level 3, it was not enough and there was increasing pressure on GPs and hospitals, he said.
“The system is under pressure because of the numbers. We need to do something different. “
The solution was in the hands of the public, it was in everyone’s behavior. There were too many people gathered, he said.
The Republic was just two to three weeks behind Northern Ireland rates, he warned.
UCC Professor Gerry Killeen believes the government should look beyond border counties when deciding to impose restrictions.
“This is really a nationwide problem, it’s most acute in the border counties. I think we have to look at the country as a time and when we look to be selective with restrictions, we should open counties respectively, rather than close counties respectively.” “Said Professor Killeen.
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