Health Minister Stephen Donnelly issues a level five lockout exit update while sharing the goal

Health Minister Stephen Donnelly has refused to rule out extending the Level Five lockdown, but said the government wanted to open as much as possible in December.

And Fianna Fail TD shared NPHET’s goal of reaching around 100 cases a day by the end of the month.

Ireland’s current strict measures will expire on December 1.

But health officials have been warning in recent days that there have been “worrying” trends in terms of the number of new cases each day.

And while Health Minister Stephen Donnelly said we are “largely on track” to get out of Level Five on time, he added that more work needs to be done over the next two weeks.

He told RTE’s Six One News: “There is no desire not to get out of Level Five in two weeks. A very clear decision was made, which is Level Five for six weeks, which is why the next two weeks are so important.” .

However, when asked if we would reopen on December 1 “whatever happens”, Donnelly added: “I don’t think with Covid the Irish government, or any government, can say whatever.

“We are largely on track, the first three weeks were really good, the R number dropped to 0.6. People have made great sacrifices, people have really joined Level Five.

“What I am saying is that during the last week it is clear that people have been fatigued, the people who gather in large groups to drink outside is a symptom of that, we are also seeing more traffic on the road.

“Six weeks is a long period for these measures. There has been a relaxation in the last week.”

He continued: “So what we want to see is the number as low as possible, what NPHET has proposed to me in their letter is that they want to go down to 100 per day.

“There is time, and if we do not reach the number, it does not mean that we will not get out of Level Five. Obviously, the Government and NPHET will consider a wide variety of measures, but for individuals and families during December and at Christmas, and for retail and companies, one of the reasons we moved when we did was to bring the virus down to a very low level so we could open up by December.