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The medical director has said that the current 14-day incidence of Covid-19 is still more than double the rate experienced at the peak of previous Level 5 restrictions in October.
Dr. Tony Holohan said that the risk of transmission of the virus in the community remains very high and urged people not to let their guard down and start interacting with people outside their home.
As of 8 p.m. yesterday, the number of Covid-19 patients in the hospital had dropped again to 1,598, 20% less than the peak of ten days ago.
But the pressure on intensive care continues unabated with 211 Covid-19 patients in the ICU, 136 of them on ventilators.
Furthermore, there were no critical care beds available in 14 acute hospitals, half of the country’s total.
Yesterday was the fifth day in a row that the number of new coronavirus cases was less than 2,000, bringing Ireland closer to resuming close contact testing of confirmed cases.
The Health Service Executive announced that Covid-19 antigen tests, performed in the public health system, can now be used to confirm infections.
This should allow for a significant increase in testing with shorter turnaround times and lower cost than the full reliance on PCR testing, which has been the case so far.
The Health Department confirmed yesterday another 54 deaths related to Covid and 1,335 new cases of the virus.
There have now been a total of 3,120 coronavirus-related deaths and 191,182 confirmed cases in Ireland.
Meanwhile, 12 countries have lost visa-free access to Ireland, after Justice Minister Helen McEntee signed a regulation last night due to concerns about Covid-19.
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Travelers from South Africa and Brazil, as well as Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname and Uruguay, are affected.
The regulation went into effect at midnight in response to growing concerns about more contagious variants of Covid-19.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said that he hopes to join the list of countries where a mandatory 14-day quarantine will apply for passengers arriving at Irish ports and airports.
He told a meeting of the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party last night that half of the arrivals at Dublin airport on Tuesday night came from holiday destinations – 397 out of 800 passengers.
He said the government is responding in multiple ways, from increasing fines for non-essential travel to more garda checkpoints at ports and airports.
Tánaiste Leo Varadkar told a Fine Gael party meeting last night that he would not rule out any strategy to deal with the pandemic, saying it was possible that the European Union could even decide to ban travel to the EU.
The opposition DTs argue that the government is acting slowly.
Independent Thomas Pringle said that while people suffer from pandemic fatigue, they also feel that 2020 was a waste because the government learned no lessons.
Test centers open for drivers bound for France
Two antigen testing centers are opening today, one at Dublin Airport and the other in Gorey, Co Wexford, to make it easier for commercial drivers to travel to France.
The government urges carriers to pre-book tests before traveling.
The notice has been issued due to a new French requirement, which takes effect today, for people arriving in the country to have proof of having received a negative Covid-19 test.
Tests are free for drivers and results are expected in one hour. More test facilities are scheduled to open in the coming days.
However, the president of the Irish Road Transport Association has criticized the lack of test centers.
Eugene Drennan said the pre-booking system was “silly” and that there should already be a third facility.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Drennan said the two test centers weren’t enough and the location of the center in Gorey is likely to cause delays and delays.
Additional reports Paul Cunningham
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