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Taoiseach Micheál Martin warned of potential additional restrictions in the country in January as Covid cases spike across the country.
The head of tomorrow’s cabinet meeting on the country’s vaccination implementation plan, Mr. Martin has said that May or June is the “optimal period” for the country to be “fully open.”
Speaking about the vaccine rollout plan on RTÉ Radio One’s Morning Ireland, he said: “In January and February we will have a limited volume of the vaccine and they will target priority areas.
“We will have enough for the priority areas and the largest volumes will begin arriving in March, April and May, as other vaccines come online and vaccine manufacturing increases around the world.
“There is a time frame for this and people need to be aware of this, this is not just in Ireland, it is everywhere, I think its optimal period is moving towards the period of May, June and then we will be fully open afterwards. of that.
“So there is a staged scheduling approach that depends on the availability of the vaccine as they enter the country.”
Regarding the increase in Covid-19 numbers since the restrictions were relaxed, Mr. Martin said that we may be considering more restrictions in January, however, it will not be the same as the first lockdown in March / April this year. .
“It is very possible that he is considering some additional restrictions in January,” he said.
“We will look at the data again and see where we are in January. We are keeping everything under review, we will take stock of where we are week by week ”.
As the country prepares to ease travel restrictions on the additional Friday for the Christmas period, Mr. Martin spoke last night of his concern over the latest data from the Covid-19 case.
Some 429 new infections and one more death were confirmed yesterday.
“I am very concerned about those numbers,” said Mr. Martin. “What I would tell people is that each [social] contact matters. If people want to enjoy Christmas with their loved ones, especially their parents or grandparents, it is extremely important that they monitor their behavior for the next week.
Beginning Friday, people will be able to travel outside of their county to spend Christmas with their loved ones. There is still no indication that this will be stopped if infections continue to increase in the coming days.
Martin said he did not believe that a third lockdown was inevitable in January, but stressed that avoiding it was firmly in the hands of the public.
“Make sure they reduce their number of contacts as much as possible. Wear a mask on crowded streets and crowded interiors like shops and public transportation. “
Medical director Dr. Tony Holohan said people now need to weigh the risks of whatever socializing they are planning in the coming days.
Almost two weeks since the country came out of the Level 5 lockdown, Dr. Holohan said: “I am concerned that we are seeing the incidence of Covid-19 increasing again – 429 is a large number of cases by the standard of the last weeks and five – the daily moving average has risen above 300 a day. “
“Our efforts at Level 5 in recent weeks reduced the incidence rate from 14 days to 78 per 100,000 population, placed us in a position to have the lowest incidence of disease in Europe and ultimately protected many people. and they saved many lives ”.
The 14-day incidence figure is now 84.3 cases per 100,000 people.
He said the latest figures should be taken “as a sign that now we must all reduce our social contacts, limit our interactions with those outside our home, weigh the risks of what we socialize in the next two weeks.”
Health Minister Stephen Donnelly said that while “we cannot draw conclusions from any day,” he acknowledged: “The situation takes very little to return to rapid growth.”
Professor Sam McConkey, an infectious disease specialist, said he does not believe that Friday’s travel opening should be reversed due to the high number of new infections recorded yesterday.
Speaking to the Irish Independent, he recommended “pre-isolation” for anyone traveling to stay with their family.
“I wouldn’t say it’s safe [to open up], “he said.” But culturally balancing things in the middle of relaxation on the 18th is fine.
“We are not saying that we are opening the country, but that we are allowing the meeting with three households. You’re supposed to keep those homes. There is a benefit to pre-isolation, which socially restricts movements before seeing family, to prevent you from contracting Covid. People should be able to travel but take into account what they do, who they see. “
Meanwhile, the Cabinet will consider tomorrow the plan that has been drawn up for the largest vaccination rollout in the country.
HSE chief Paul Reid said on RTÉ’s This Week radio show regarding the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine: “We have been working on this for quite some time.”
Irish independent
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