Covid-19 Ireland lockdown: all three issues highlighted by Health Minister Stephen Donnelly in grim Level Five warning

The Covid hits are scheduled to be delivered to the first large-scale members of the public starting tomorrow as the vaccine rollout continues in Ireland.

Health Minister Stephen Donnelly said today marks “an important week in the fight” against the deadly virus, as vaccination of people over 85 years of age begins.

It will be the first time that the vaccines are available to the general public.

But Donnelly pointed out that the country could be facing an extended period of Level Five restrictions despite this.

Speaking on RTE’s This Week show about lifting the restrictions, Donnelly said: “With the uncertainty surrounding vaccines and variants, it is difficult to give a precise answer.

“Progress is being made and we have the biggest drop in Europe. However, close contacts are increasing again, positivity rates remain high, the percentage of new cases in Dublin is increasing again.

“It is too early given all that to give a precise answer.

“Close contacts are increasing again, not much, but they are increasing again. Positivity rates remain high, particularly among close contacts. The percentage of new cases from Dublin is increasing.

“We believe there are more opportunities in terms of workplaces to help people add additional protections as well. It is too early given all that to give accurate predictions. “

Donnelly said the government “wants schools to open as quickly as possible.”

But he added that “there are no set dates yet” for when this will happen, and that Education Minister Norma Foley is currently in talks on the matter.

Meanwhile, a senior health expert has warned that vaccines are not the ultimate solution, warning that travel abroad is one of the biggest risks facing the country.

Dr Cliona Ni Cheallaigh, an infectious disease consultant at St James’s Hospital in Dublin, said Ireland needs to change its approach to overseas travel.

He added that more investment is needed in the track and trace system here, and said the trackers must be “like SWAT teams” to fight the virus.

Speaking about vaccines on RTE Radio One’s Brendan O’Connor today, he said, “We can’t count on them.

“We have learned from international travel that there are variants of the virus for which the vaccine will not work as well. We need to change our focus.

“We keep getting it (the virus) out of here and then re-importing it.

“We simply cannot afford for people to travel in and out of the country.

“The faster we can get rid of this globally, the faster we can travel again.”

Ms Ni Cheallaigh also said that she believes the EU should adapt a centralized approach to eradicating the virus between member states, which would allow for some foreign travel within Europe.

And she thinks it would be a huge boost for people to know that they could travel in some form if the EU created what she calls a “green zone”.

He adds that it would give people some hope of returning to overseas travel before global travel returns to pre-pandemic levels, saying that “the sooner we can get rid of this globally, the faster we can travel again. “.

“If you have direct inbound and outbound trips and you are careful with your planes, they all wear good masks and don’t infect each other, it is absolutely possible that you will.

“Europe is a great place to travel. If we all knew that that was something we could work on, I think it could help motivate people.”