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The government is ready to consider stricter restrictions on international travel, as Tánaiste Leo Varadkar has promised that a new system of mandatory quarantine in hotels will be in place “within a few weeks.”
Justice Minister Helen McEntee is expected to seek government approval on Tuesday to extend the existing ban on visa-free travel from South Africa and most South American countries due to the threat posed by Covid-19 variants. The measures were due to expire on March 5. It is understood that Ms McEntee will also seek permission from the Cabinet to further extend the ban to other countries outside the EEA in the future, although specific locations have yet to be agreed.
New legislation to enforce mandatory state quarantine in hotels for passengers from high-risk countries passed all stages at Oireachtas on Monday and will now go to the president for signature.
The most complicated aspects of the system focus on the private security personnel that the hotels will use to monitor the quarantine, the arrangements around physical exercise and the delivery of food to the rooms, and the frequency of tests for the hotel and other staff managing the quarantine system.
It is understood that gardaí will be called to the hotels if those who stay do not comply with the rules or leave the premises before they are allowed to do so.
The garda’s top management has informed the Government that the force must not be at the site of the facilities and must not play any role in escorting passengers from airplanes and ports to hotels. In a letter sent to the Fine Gael parliamentary party on Monday, Varadkar said the new system will be in place in a few weeks.
Restriction relief
He also said that in the run-up to Easter “if we continue on the current path in terms of falling cases and reducing pressure on our hospitals, the following changes will be considered on April 5: relaxation of the 5 km rule , open the building, click and collect and allow more outdoor activity to take place. No further relaxation of restrictions will be considered until late April or early May. “
Mr. Varadkar said that the Covid-19 vaccination program will be accelerated in March and April. About 100,000 vaccines will be given per week in March, rising to between 200,000 and 300,000 per week in April, he told Fine Gael TDs and Senators.
Meanwhile, the goal of vaccinating everyone over the age of 85 by the end of this week is unlikely to be achieved, according to the GP who coordinates the community vaccination effort.
At least 30 smaller GPs that have not yet received a vaccine delivery or delivery date this week will likely have to wait until next week to inoculate their older patients.
Vaccination of people over 85 years of age
Dr Denis McCauley, chairman of the Irish Medical Organization’s committee of GPs, said that all GP practices “that have committed to IMO”, around 1,300, would complete vaccination of those over the age of 85 years as planned this week.
He said that efforts were being made to contact some smaller practices that had not “bonded” with neighboring practices as recommended. He said other practices that have not yet been given a delivery slot will be heard soon from the HSE, which is giving a 48-hour notice of delivery.
Some 42,000 older patients will be vaccinated this week, just like last week. One more death from a Covid-19 patient was reported on Monday, as well as 687 new confirmed cases. For the first time this year, there were no admissions to the ICU in the last 24 hours.
Although Monday’s case count is considerably higher than the figure of 200 to 400 cases per day originally forecast for early March by the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet), authorities said progress was still being made. constant. However, it will take “five to six weeks” to reduce to 200 cases per day, and “months” to reduce daily cases to single digits, according to Professor Philip Nolan, an official at Nphet.
France agreed last night to allow people over 65 with underlying health problems to receive the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine, reversing a previous decision that it should only be for those under 65.
The decision will pressure state health officials to lower age restrictions for the easier-to-handle vaccine, which is not given to people over 70.
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