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The current Level 5 restrictions will be extended until March 5 by the Cabinet this morning due to the high number of patients in hospitals and intensive care with Covid-19.
The move was one of those agreed by Taoiseach Micheál Martin and the senior ministers of the Covid Cabinet subcommittee, which will be discussed by their colleagues.
A number of new Covid restrictions will be passed, 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. by the Cabinet on Tuesday morning.
The reopening of special education, construction and schools in general is not understood to be on Tuesday’s agenda.
Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said last night that the government’s plans were to suppress the virus to very low levels and that easing the restrictions would happen very, very slowly and use the time to vaccinate as many people as possible.
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 will continue for the next few days with a plan set for the end of the week.
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.
For the first time, all incoming passengers will face a legal requirement of self-isolation after arrival with criminal penalties for non-compliance. So far, while the advice has been for arrivals to isolate themselves, it has had no legal basis.
In addition, the authorities in Ireland and Northern Ireland have agreed to share some data regarding passengers in order to curb the spread of the virus on both sides of the jurisdiction.
For the first time, those arriving from abroad to the state via Northern Ireland will also face punitive sanctions, including fines or imprisonment, if they fail to isolate themselves for 14 days.
“The effect of all this will be to reduce the volume of international travel to Ireland to a dribble,” said a source familiar with the discussion.
The source said the move would prevent Irish tourists from traveling abroad during the pandemic and British nationals from flying into Dublin and then using the north as a back door.
There is evidence that some 2,500 people have traveled from the State to Spain during the month of January, some of whom have been vacationers. Checkpoints will continue to operate near airports and seaports to ensure that people do not travel abroad for non-essential reasons.
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.
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.
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.
In statements last night, Tánaiste and Business Minister Leo Varadkar said that the government did not rule out mandatory confinement in a hotel for arrivals to the country.
The Tánaiste said he has been talking to his counterpart in New Zealand, and while people may be held in hotels for such purposes, they would in fact be like detention centers.
Speaking on the Claire Byrne Live program on RTÉ television, she said the policy was likely not to be fully effective if the Republic implemented it on its own due to the Northern Irish border.
If such a measure were introduced, it would likely last most of the year, as such drastic public health measures are difficult to reverse.
It could create even greater restrictions on travel abroad and could mean that people would not be able to travel for reasons such as job interviews, education, or to attend family funerals. It could also affect supply chains.
He said he had spoken with the medical director, Dr. Tony Holohan, and Dr. Philip Nolan of the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet), and they warned him that following a zero Covid strategy “probably wouldn’t work.”
This was due to Ireland’s position in the midst of a European outbreak of the disease, the border with Northern Ireland, and our connectivity to Great Britain and Europe.
“Zero Covid means there will be no new cases for 14 days. It took the city of Melbourne, Australia three months to go from about 400 Covid cases to zero.
“For us it could take a lot longer. It could mean a permanent lockdown and we may never get to zero. “
A poll conducted by the program found that 71 percent of respondents were in favor of closing the border with Northern Ireland. Varadkar said he was surprised by how high the figure was.
“I would be against that,” he said, regarding the total closure of the border. “We are not a state on this island, but we are a country.”
One hundred years after the partition, “I would not like us to do that.”
He would like to see an all-Ireland approach to the disease, but that was not possible due to politics between Sinn Féin and the DUP.
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.”
Separately, gardaí has issued around 1,500 fines in the past two weeks for nonessential travel.
A total of 909 fines were processed for the period for non-essential travel at the close of business on Sunday, An Garda Síochána said, and an additional 645 fines are currently being processed.
Two weeks ago on-site fines of € 100 were introduced for violating Covid-19 travel restrictions, while those who do not comply with the regulations on the use of face masks can be fined € 80.
Travel restrictions include the instruction to stay within 5 km of your home, except for essential purposes.
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