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Covid’s new restrictions, including mandatory quarantine at designated hotels for incoming travelers without a negative test for the virus, increased fines for non-compliance with existing rules, and a ban on travel from South Africa and Brazil, will be approved by the Cabinet. . Tuesday morning
Travelers without a negative test will also face a fine of up to € 2,500 and / or up to six months in prison, while returning tourists will face increased fines.
All short-term visa-free travel from South Africa and Brazil will be temporarily halted, while ministers will also be informed on Tuesday that gardaí will mount more checks at airports and ports.
Gardaí will also establish checkpoints 5 km from the border to avoid unnecessary travel. Legislation will be introduced for the first time to impose fines on people traveling from the northern jurisdiction who are not essential workers.
However, the ministers decided not to recommend a mandatory quarantine for all travelers similar to the regime in force in Australia, New Zealand and parts of East Asia.
Cabinet will be advised that the new measures will take time to implement.
Lock extension
The measures will accompany an extension of the current lockdown until at least March 5. The reopening of special education, construction and schools in general is not understood to be on Tuesday’s agenda. Negotiations, aimed at resolving concerns that led to the cancellation of the planned reopening of the special education provision last week, resumed on Monday and should continue for the next few days.
But there appears to be little prospect of a joint approach with the Stormont administration, despite phone calls between Taoiseach Micheál Martin and North First and Deputy Prime Ministers Arlene Foster and Michelle O’Neill on Monday.
It is understood that there was no meaningful discussion on an Ireland-wide strategy to implement restrictions or on a ‘two island’ approach that would cause the Republic and the UK to adopt a similar approach to restrictions.
Several political sources also downplayed the prospect of any imminent progress on a “two-island” approach. On Monday, when asked about a joint approach with the UK, Transport Minister Eamon Ryan said: “I don’t think, so far, it is politically possible.”
Earlier Monday, Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said the Irish government had not used its influence enough to push for an all-island approach to the pandemic by urging the Northern Ireland Executive to allow it to be similar restrictive measures apply in both jurisdictions.
Professor Philip Nolan de Nphet says that the incidence remains very high in long-term care facilities and among vulnerable people. Photography: Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin
However, the government TDs, including Ryan, criticized Ms. McDonald, arguing that her party was in shared executive power in the North and should exert its influence.
The other major party in the Northern power sharing management, the DUP, has basically ruled out any new measures imposing restrictions on air or sea travel from Britain to Northern Ireland.
Vaccine concerns
There were further concerns about the vaccine schedule Monday night when the German media reported that the AstraZeneca vaccine was not very effective for people over 65. German officials now fear the vaccine is not approved by European Union authorities for use in those over 65, according to reports. But the company flatly denied the reports Monday night, insisting that its trials showed a strong response among older people. A spokesman for Health Minister Stephen Donnelly said: “The EMA has to make a determination on Friday and on the basis of that the European Commission will decide on approval. Ireland will be guided by those decisions. “
Meanwhile, the downward trend in the number of new cases of the virus continued Monday night, with the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) announcing 1,372 new cases and seven more deaths.
The number of cases was cut in half every 10 days and, collectively, the people had achieved suppression of the disease, said Professor Philip Nolan, chairman of Nphet’s epidemiological modeling advisory group.
But the incidence remains very high in long-term care facilities and among vulnerable people, he said, and mortality remains high.
Professor Nolan also said that hospital admissions had been declining for the past two weeks and that ICU admissions “may be starting to decline.”
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