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Growing alarm over the spiraling spread of Covid-19 may force the government to order the closure of non-essential stores from St. Stephen’s Day.
The latest blow comes as people are canceling Christmas plans and companies bracing for weeks of lockdown.
The highly infectious strain of the virus, blamed by the UK for the skyrocketing number of cases, has been found in the east of the country and looks set to take hold.
Medical director Dr. Tony Holohan said the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) met yesterday and recommended that the government impose stricter restrictions amid panic over the growing spread of the virus.
“Our level of concern continues to increase,” he warned.
This is understood to involve telling non-essential retailers that they will have to close again as of December 26.
Yesterday there were 13 more deaths related to Covid-19 and 938 cases, while the R number, which indicates how fast the virus is spreading, is now higher than it was in the dark days of March, with daily cases currently increasing between 7-9 percent.
Professor Philip Nolan, who tracks the virus, said restrictions announced Tuesday, closing pubs and restaurants tonight and restricting home visits and inter-county travel, will not be enough to prevent the country from entering a crisis.
Dr. Holohan blamed the increase in socialization, particularly since pubs and restaurants reopened, on the huge growth of the infection and is the dominant cause of the increase in cases rather than the new strain of the virus.
Professor Nolan said he’s not sure the measures announced earlier this week go far enough and are enough to bring the R number below 1.
He said: “We are starting from an R number which is 1.6 or it could be 1.8”.
Earlier, Professor Nolan warned that the virus is spreading among all age groups and is spreading to older people who are vulnerable to the virus early on compared to the latest increase in October.
Hospitalizations are increasing, although intensive care admissions are declining.
Yesterday there were 251 patients in the hospital and 25 in intensive care.
The fear is that hospitals will be overwhelmed as more critically ill patients have to be admitted at a time when people with other illnesses crowd emergency departments after Christmas.
When asked why hospitality is undergoing shutdowns when HSE figures yesterday showed no outbreaks in pubs or restaurants last week, Dr. Holohan said the significant increase in cases coincided with the first week it was allowed. the reopening of such businesses.
He again urged the public: “Review your Christmas plans to ensure that social contacts are limited and that measures of hand hygiene, physical distance, ventilation and face covering are implemented if you must have visitors in your home.”
Cillian De Gascun from the National Virus Reference Laboratory confirmed that “preliminary data would suggest, based on a selection of samples tested over the weekend, that the new UK variant is present in Ireland.
“However, given the timing of the samples tested, it would appear that the new variant is not solely responsible for the recent increase in the number of cases seen in Ireland.”
They accounted for about 10 percent of the samples they had tested and is likely to increase, he added.
The Northern Ireland Department of Health also confirmed a positive test for the new coronavirus variant last night..
Previously, the HSE said it expects to receive about 40,000 doses of the vaccine during the first week of its launch, starting with the initial batch of 9,750 that will arrive on St. Stephen’s Day.
Residents and long-term care workers, as well as front-line staff at vaccination sites at Beaumont Hospital, St James’s Hospital, Cork University Hospital and University Hospital Galway will be the first to receive the vaccine in a “sweep of three weeks. “
By the end of December, daily cases could reach 1,000 and increase to 1,500 in the first week of the year.
To cope, the HSE should only test the close contacts of people who have the infection once, rather than twice.
Online editors
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