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The Cabinet agreed to a new wave of Covid-19 restrictions, which will bring the country back to Level 5, with a few exceptions.
Two home visits will be allowed on St. Stephen’s Day, but then it will be reduced to one home until December 31 and home visits will be banned entirely in the new year, it is expected.
Inter-county travel will be banned from St. Stephen’s Day, but people who have already traveled for Christmas will not be asked to return home. However, once they return home from their visit, no further inter-county trips can be made.
Bars and restaurants will close at 3 p.m. on Christmas Eve, although gyms and non-essential shops will be allowed to remain open. The hairdressing and personal services will close from Christmas Eve. Stores will be asked not to make sales.
Hotels will be allowed to open for Christmas, but it has not yet been decided whether they will be able to stay open for guests only after that.
Christmas religious services may take place, but services will move online after December 25. Churches will remain open for private prayer.
Travel restrictions from Great Britain will remain in effect until at least December 31.
It is understood that the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) warned the Government that the number of cases would increase in the coming days, exceeding 900 per day by tomorrow. The growth of infections is now 10 percent a day, which, if it continues unchecked, would threaten to overwhelm the health service within a few weeks.
The restrictions will be reviewed on January 12.
The Cabinet has also been informed that the first vaccinations in the Republic will take place on December 30 or 31. Approximately 10,000 doses of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine will be available after Christmas.
The measures follow a dramatic change in mood in government in recent days and come in response to a surge in infections and warnings from public health experts that the number of cases will rise further this week and that we are in the middle of a third wave.
On his way to the cabinet meeting, Health Minister Stephen Donnelly said public health physicians and infectious disease physicians were deeply concerned about how quickly the virus had spread in recent weeks and how new variant of the disease identified in the UK.
‘Good news’
Medical director Dr. Tony Holohan recommended reverting to Level 5 restrictions and “that is what will be considered” by the Cabinet, he said.
The “job right now” was to keep people alive and safe, he said. The best way to do this was to slow down the virus and get the vaccination program up and running quickly.
“On Christmas Day, a large number of people in every county in this country will sit down with their families and have a Christmas day, which they otherwise would not have been if this virus had gotten out of control.”
Donnelly said it was good news that the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine had been cleared by the EMA in advance. Starting today there will be plans to bring the vaccine to the country. “We will start vaccinating this side of the New Year.”
The minister added that he hoped that the Moderna vaccine would be licensed in the first week of January.
Transport Minister Eamon Ryan said there is a real concern that Covid-19 numbers are growing so fast and across all age groups.
They are growing “as fast in the older cohort as in the younger cohort,” which was “slightly different from October, when they were mainly young.”
Mr Ryan said that the Government will introduce new restrictions: “I think it is necessary because of what we have seen, not only in Ireland, but also in other countries.
“When you lose control, it is very difficult to regain it. We want to maintain control as we have it in this country ”.
Ryan said there would be a series of staggered dates regarding the change in restrictions, “they will not all be on the same date during the holiday period.”
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