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Medical Director Dr. Tony Holohan, who has been on leave, is expected to return to his position next week.
Sources confirmed that Dr. Holohan, who resigned in July for family reasons, will return to his post next Monday.
Dr. Holohan said he was backing down to spend time with his family and help care for his wife who was diagnosed with terminal cancer. It is understood that you are receiving ongoing care.
Dr. Holohan became a household name in the first half of the year, leading nightly briefings for the National Public Health Emergencies Team (NPHET) during the initial phase of the virus and the national shutdown.
He was seen as a “hawk” in the confinement, advocating severe restrictions and advocating caution in the pace of the country’s reopening during the early summer. Sources say his return will strengthen the argument for tighter restrictions to combat the virus’ resurgence in recent weeks.
NPHET is meeting Thursday to consider the latest developments in the spread of the virus and is expected to consider extending the level three restrictions to several more counties. If the group requests more restrictions, there will be a senior officials meeting followed by a cabinet committee meeting tomorrow and possibly another full cabinet meeting later.
However, sources familiar with the informal discussions in recent days say they do not expect the extension of more restrictions tomorrow as officials want to assess how the restrictions in Dublin and Donegal are working, and the intensified public awareness messages from the authorities. of public health since last week. .
The National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) reported 429 confirmed cases of Covid-19 on Wednesday. This brings to 36,155 the total number of cases of the disease in the Republic.
Some 189 of the new cases are in Dublin and 60 in Cork. There were also 31 cases in Donegal, 28 in Galway, 18 in Kildare, 15 in Wicklow, 15 in Clare, 12 in Limerick, nine in Meath, nine in Louth, seven in Cavan, seven in Longford, six in Laois, five in Offaly , five in Westmeath, with the remaining 14 cases in eight counties.
One more death was reported to NPHET, bringing the total number of deaths to 1,804.
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