Coronavirus in Ireland – Covid-19 expert says ‘we need to do better’ before blocking restrictions can be lifted

A CORONAVIRUS expert said “we need to do better” before the blocking restrictions can be lifted.

Ireland will remain locked up for at least three more weeks in an attempt to stop the spread of Covid-19 as the death toll rose to 288.

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Ireland’s new case total is now 8,089 after the return of Germany’s test results.

And the Taoiseach said that there was no magic figure they wanted to attack that would allow them to reopen Ireland, but that they would learn from the experiences of Denmark, Austria and the Czech Republic, which are beginning to facilitate their measurements.

He said the government would expect to be able to relax some of the stringent measures after May 5, but said they will not be relaxed at once and will have to be done bit by bit.

And the new Garda powers signed by Health Minister Simon Harris will also run until May 5, the Taoiseach confirmed.

Schools will be closed until further notice and Leaving Cert exams have been postponed until late July or early August, while this year’s Junior Cert exams have been canceled.

VIRUS CHALLENGE

Cillian de Gascun, who chairs the Coronavirus Expert Advisory Group and Director of the National Virus Reference Laboratory, said Ireland is not yet at a stage where it would be wise to lift the restrictions.

Speaking on Morning Ireland about RTE, Dr. De Gascun said: “The challenge for us is to try to lift them up at a time when we are in a position to closely monitor what is happening from a virus perspective in the community.

“We’ve had a positive impact flattening the curve, so the percentage of new cases every day has dropped from more than 30 percent at the start of the epidemic to less than ten percent.

“That is a really positive step, but the problem is that it must still be zero.

“We have made a lot of progress, but we have to do better before we can realistically lift those restrictions.”

HOPE TO RAISE THE MEASURES

But the Covid-19 expert said there is hope that some restrictions can be eased in the coming weeks.

He said: “We are aware of the fact that restrictions are very difficult for people and are not sustainable in the long term.

“What we hope to be able to do is lift them up in the coming weeks, perhaps.

“And then monitor the situation from the perspective of the virus and perhaps increase the restrictions again if necessary, depending on the number of cases, the people admitted to the hospital, the people admitted to intensive care.

“Ultimately, what we have to try and do is control the impact on our health service and if we come to a situation where, for example, we have a thousand new cases per day.

“That will overwhelm our intensive care system in a very short period of time.”

Dr. De Gascun added: “People will find the restrictions difficult.

“I think we only have to look at other countries like Italy, like the United States, like Spain.

“This virus, if given an opportunity, can run rampant and it is really important that people do not become complacent even though we have had a very successful implementation of the measures so far, there is still a long way to go.”

“We would like to be able to lift the restrictions as soon as possible so that people can return to a certain level of normalcy, however the other aspect is in the context of what happens from a testing and contact tracking perspective when we lift those restrictions” . “

Leo Varadkar extends the blockade for three weeks and the measures will not be lifted all at once