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Ministers and officials will meet today to finalize the government’s plan on managing the Covid-19 pandemic amid warnings from public health experts that restrictions will be needed to control the high infection rates in Dublin.
Preparation of the Living with Covid medium-term strategy continued over the weekend. High-level sources said last night that there will be more amendments to the plan before it is finalized by the Covid-19 subcommittee and sent to Cabinet for approval and publication tomorrow.
The plan will establish a five-stage framework, with level one being the most relaxed environment and level five the most restricted, similar to the national lockdown introduced earlier this year. You will then establish what each level will mean for a variety of sectors.
The government is expected to say that level two is appropriate for current conditions, although there is some debate among ministers as to whether Dublin should be raised to level three. Multiple sources said new restrictions could emerge for Dublin this week, although a decision has yet to be made.
The capital has seen a sharp increase in cases in the last fortnight. Last night it was announced that there were 255 new cases nationwide, 156 of them in Dublin.
However, there is reluctance in the government to tighten restrictions in the county given the large proportion of the population that would be affected and the importance of Dublin to the economy.
Public health experts are understood to have advised tightening of restrictions in Dublin, noting that rising infection rates in two areas, the southeast and northwest, exceed 100 cases per 100,000 people over a 14-day period. Overall, Dublin has 79.3 cases per 100,000 residents.
Government sources said that even at level one of the plan, normal life would not return.
“Even in the best of cases, we will continue to live our lives in a different way,” said a person familiar with the plan. “The big events are not coming back. The big weddings are not coming back. “
Sports spectators
It is understood that some expansion in the number of people allowed to attend sporting events is expected, but there will be no return to large crowds at games. Strict limits will be maintained on indoor and outdoor events.
The government is also expected to update the green list of countries from which visitors will not have to isolate themselves for 14 days upon arrival, pending the adoption of a new EU color-coding system.
This creates a list of “green” countries where infection rates are less than 25 cases per 100,000, “orange” where they are less than 50 per 100,000, and “red” where they are more than 50.
In the period until the EU’s proposed “traffic light” system is approved next month, the government can use the same criteria to add countries like Germany, Poland and Iceland to the state’s green list.
Meanwhile, HSE’s winter plan for this winter is expected to provide additional beds, staff and facilities so that hospitals can continue to function as long as possible during the pandemic. Officials are considering adding some 1,000 acute and subacute hospital beds to the system.
The impact of an increase of approximately 20 million hours of home care is also being examined, to help people stay in their own homes or to make it easier for people to return to their own homes after hospital care.
Meanwhile, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar will announce today a € 1,000 grant scheme for small businesses affected by Covid-19 during a visit to Co Kildare. The plan is expected to benefit up to 2,000 small businesses with fewer than 10 employees.
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