Coronavirus in Ireland – Simon Harris says Ireland’s progress in battle against coronavirus remains ‘fragile’

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Health Minister Simon Harris has said that Ireland’s progress in the battle against the coronavirus remains “fragile”.

The number of Covid-19 patients treated in intensive care fell to 93 today, the lowest level in a month.

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Harris welcomed that trend, but said more work was needed to weaken the virus.

He stressed the importance of the public continuing to observe the country’s strict blockade rules for another two weeks, before the start of Ireland’s gradual recovery plan on May 18.

The number of coronavirus deaths in Ireland rose to 1,319 on Monday after the National Public Health Emergency Team announced another 16 deaths.

There were 266 new confirmed cases of Covid-19, bringing the total in Ireland to 21,772 since the outbreak began.

HORRIBLE VIRUSES

He said: “I believe and hope that people are very aware of how horrible this virus is.

Remember, despite the relative success we’ve had in this country compared to where we might have been, we’ve still seen more than 1,300 people die.

“And despite the fact that we are seeing our ICU numbers drop fortunately, there are still 93 seriously ill people in intensive care today and what I say to everyone in this country if you were home today and you are thinking how difficult it is This is, and it is difficult and it is a sacrifice, to think how you would feel if it were you or your mother or your father or your grandmother or your grandfather today in an ICU fighting for your life, because that is what it is about.

“It’s about saving lives, it’s about making sure we keep you well.”

CHANGES TO RESTRICTIONS

While most of the blockade measures remain in effect for another two weeks, two will ease on Tuesday.

A travel limit that has forced people to stay within 2 km of their home when they exercise will extend to 5 km, and those over 70 who can isolate themselves will be informed that they can walk out of their home or drive.

The five-stage phased recovery plan will begin on May 18.

In phase one, outdoor work such as construction and landscaping will resume. Some outlets, such as garden centers, hardware stores, and repair shops, will also reopen.

From that date on, some outdoor sports activities and physical activities in small groups, such as golf and tennis, will also be allowed.

The cafes and restaurants will reopen in phase three (June 29), but the pubs won’t reopen until phase five (August 10).

‘RADICAL’

Two organizations representing Irish pub owners described what they described as a “radical” set of proposals for social distancing in an attempt to convince the government to also allow them to open in phase three.

Harris said it was important for people to focus on the next two weeks.

He said: “We are making progress but progress is really fragile.

“And if we go ahead here as people and decide ‘ah, sure, maybe I could push a little bit more’, what we will do is a couple of things. We will see more people get sick, we will see more people die, but we will also undermine the plan.

“The best chance of this plan being successful is to use these two weeks to weaken this virus as much as possible.”

“We need to use these two weeks to really reduce the number of new cases, to see the ICU numbers and the hospital numbers, and we hope to see our death numbers stabilized as well.”

“If we do that, when we start our plan on May 18, we have a good chance that we can move forward.”

“If we don’t, we could be in a very difficult position.”