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Reuters
Gardaí (Irish Police) established 1,000 checkpoints across the country on Friday
The Republic of Ireland will extend its Covid-19 restrictions for another three weeks until May 5.
Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister) Leo Varadkar made the announcement on Friday afternoon after a meeting of the national public health emergency team.
Gardaí (Irish Police) has established more than 1,000 checkpoints in recent days to prevent people from breaking restrictions.
There have been 288 Covid-19 related deaths in the country, while the number of deaths in Northern Ireland is 92.
On Friday, there were 25 confirmed deaths in the Republic of Ireland, while the number of confirmed cases increased by 480 to 7,054.
More than half of the country’s deaths, 156, had been in nursing homes, Irish broadcaster RTÉ reported.
Varadkar thanked people for their “patience and sacrifice” in efforts to stop the spread of the coronavirus.
If people followed current guidelines, the blockade is expected to ease after May 5, he said, but cautioned that the restrictions “will not be eased at once.”
“They will have to be done little by little,” he said.
An update on the status of the blockade is expected in the United Kingdom, where Prime Minister Boris Johnson is recovering in hospital after contracting the virus within a few days.
More evidence is expected
Previously, the chairman of the coronavirus expert advisory group said people could not be complacent about the dangers of Covid-19 because “given the opportunity, this virus will run rampant.”
“We are not going to return to a normal state of affairs anytime soon,” said Dr. Cillian De Gascun.
While the lifting of any restrictions would be gradual, it would not occur until there was more confidence that the virus would no longer spread. If it did, the restrictions would have to be reintroduced.
Dr. De Gascun said he expected the tests to increase dramatically in the next week due to the additional laboratory capacity.
Analysis: A close eye on Europe
By Shane Harrison, BBC News NI Dublin correspondent
Leo Varadkar’s announcement comes at a time when authorities can pinpoint how his measures are working, while saying more needs to be done.
The ministers admit that it is difficult to live with the curbs, but they advise people to persevere and not lose focus when seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.
The Irish authorities will keep a close eye on Denmark, Austria and the Czech Republic to see how they are doing as the restrictions are relaxed.
The country still plans to have its state Leaving Cert exams this summer, Ireland’s equivalent of A-Levels, but not before the end of July.
That may be an indication that the government expects normalcy to have returned by then.
Irish Health Minister Simon Harris said the past two weeks had been extremely difficult, but that the restrictions were in place to save lives.
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PA Media
Irish Health Minister Simon Harris said the most extreme measures concerned “trying to keep people alive”
People have been told that they should not travel more than two kilometers from their home unless absolutely necessary, or unless it is to buy food.
Gardaí has warned people not to travel to vacation homes, caravan sites, or other traditional vacation spots over the Easter weekend.
In Northern Ireland, the police also promised to take a tough approach over Easter: The Northern Ireland Police Service on Friday issued three fines of £ 60 for violating the restrictions.
The PSNI has also created a new website where people can report cases of social distancing that are not respected.
In other developments on Friday:
- Another 10 people died with coronavirus in Northern Ireland, with a total of 92
- The total number of deaths across the UK increased to 8,931 as the global number of deaths exceeded 100,000
- Northern Ireland Executive ordered £ 170m for PPE from China
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