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Covid-19 cases in Ireland jumped by more than 400 again on Thursday, as health officials warned that the country must return to normal.
The country is less than two weeks away from the scheduled departure from Level Five, but the number of cases is not as low as expected.
Plans at the beginning of the lockdown were to reduce the numbers to 100 or less before exiting to Level Three on December 1.
However, with more than 10 days to go, it seems less and less likely.
Here’s a quick rundown of all the Covid updates you need to know about this morning;
EU Vaccine Hope
The European Union could approve two vaccines by the end of December and they will be rolled out in places like Ireland in early 2021.
(Image: Gareth Chaney / Collins)
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said late Thursday that the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna hits would be assessed by the European Medicines Agency before the middle of next month.
The boss said: “And if all goes smoothly, EMA tells us that the conditional marketing authorization for BioNTech and Moderna could occur in the second half of December 2020.”
Dr. Holohan’s Warning
Dr. Holohan told reporters at Thursday’s briefing: “In a sense, we have lost a week in the six weeks given the trajectory we were on.
“Now we have to make up that time between now and the end of November. The way that we can do it individually is to really focus on reducing our number of contacts, so that’s our main message today.”
However, when asked if “missing a week” meant we would face an additional week of Level Five, Dr. Holohan added, “I wouldn’t take that inference.”
Level five decision date set
The Medical Director has confirmed that the National Public Health Emergency Team will meet next Thursday, November 26.
The most likely date for a full Cabinet decision is the Friday after the NPHET meeting, which in this case would be November 27.
However, on some occasions, depending on the nature of the NPHET recommendation, the government decision-making process has taken place for several days.
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