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Health Minister Stephen Donnelly has said the focus right now should be “to do whatever it takes to suppress this virus.”
Speaking to reporters on his way to the Cabinet, he said: “While we initially started vaccinating nursing homes, people in nursing homes and residents and, critically, also our first-rate healthcare workers line.
“We need to keep people safe, we need to keep people alive, and we need to keep our hospital system and our health care system open.
“So obviously very serious decisions need to be looked at today.”
The Cabinet has an emergency meeting this afternoon, where the Ministers will discuss the latest proposals from the National Public Health Emergency Team.
Chief Medical Officer Dr. Tony Holohan and colleagues have recommended that Ireland enter a full-scale level five lockdown.
Such a move would shut down non-essential shops, gyms, leisure centers, golf courses, and tennis clubs, possibly after midnight.
It would be another giant blow to the retail sector, and the potential move has left bosses “baffled and extremely disappointed.”
The closure of nonessential retail would return about 40,000 workers to Pandemic Unemployment Pay (PUP).
After this afternoon’s cabinet meeting concludes, Taoiseach Micheal Martin is expected to deliver a state of the nation address outlining the government’s plans.
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