Government ‘considering’ toughening foreign travel rules

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The government is already considering further tightening of restrictions on international travel, Transport Minister Eamon Ryan said.

It comes as Britain will introduce stricter border controls next week against new variants of the coronavirus, requiring hotel quarantine for arrivals from high-risk countries.

Minister Ryan told RTÉ News that the government will continue to coordinate with Britain to make sure its cooperation is effective.

Previously, Ryan had said that more extensive restrictions would be introduced for international travel.

He said more countries besides Brazil and South Africa will be added to the mandatory quarantine list, but the system must start working first.

This morning, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said the country has a way to go before the current level of restrictions can be eased, adding that the government will bring “greater clarity” on the matter by the middle of this month.

Addressing the cabinet, Martin warned that the response will be conservative and cautious.

He said schools remain a priority and while the number of Covid-19 infections is declining, they must be lower for essential sectors such as schools and construction to reopen.

“First of all, the levels are still too high in hospitals,” the Taoiseach told reporters.

Mr. Martin said that the priority is to reduce infection levels and that the Government will work on this over the next week, as well as on the issue of continued support to the business sector.

He said: “That will also be part of today’s Cabinet meeting, in terms of additional support to shore up businesses and businesses, so that we can keep employment intact as much as possible during this pandemic.”

When asked about INMO’s criticism of the pressures and risks facing frontline healthcare workers and also whether they could receive special payments, as in the UK, he said the Government will look at all options in relation to health workers.

“But mainly, I think we have to make sure that they have the support that all hospitals require at the moment,” Taoiseach said.

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Justice Minister Helen McEntee said the government will inform people “long before” March 5 what the next phase will look like, with plans to reopen special education as a priority before reopening construction and other sites. work.

Ms. McEntee indicated that a final decision on this year’s Certificate of Completion will be made next week.

Minister McEntee said preparations to introduce mandatory quarantine in hotels are at an advanced stage and will be introduced in the coming weeks and in the meantime, passenger locator forms and PCR testing will continue as well as quarantine. domiciliary.

He added that the Government is engaging with Northern Ireland and UK officials to prevent people traveling through Dublin from trying to evade a PCR test or other UK entry requirements.

Government accused of haphazard approach

Meanwhile, Labor leader Alan Kelly said the government now faces a choice between locking up “our own people” or quarantining people entering the country.

He accused the coalition of having a messy approach and said the Living With Covid plan was no longer working.

Speaking at the Dáil, Kelly called for a greater emphasis on ensuring that people can work from home, saying that the Covid-19 case numbers are not low enough to allow schools to return at this time.

Richard Boyd-Barrett of People Before Profit reiterated calls on the government to implement a zero Covid strategy and said it had not yet learned the lessons of the “disastrous decision” to open the economy before Christmas.

This was evidenced by the announcement by Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien that construction will reopen in March, he said.

He added that the key to making decisions was when the virus was under control and not choosing arbitrary dates.

It occurs when there has been a significant additional reduction in the number of Covid-19 patients in the hospital.

According to the Executive of the Health Service, last night there were 1,100 patients with the virus in the hospital, 112 less than yesterday morning.

The number of patients in intensive care with the virus has also dropped from three to 173.

St James’s Hospital in Dublin treats 99 patients with Covid-19, the largest number in the country.

In other parts of Dublin, there are 98 patients at Mater Hospital and 74 at Connolly Hospital Blanchardstown with the disease.

The number of adult ICU beds available in hospitals across the country has also increased to 48.

Last night, the Health Department reported six more Covid-related deaths and 829 new cases of the virus.

There have been a total of 3,687 Covid-related deaths in Ireland and a cumulative total of 204,397 infections.

The chair of the NPHET Epidemiological Modeling Advisory Group, Professor Philip Nolan, said at last night’s National Public Health Emergency Team briefing that there was still “steady progress against all indicators” of Covid-19.

“We are still on track to 200 to 400 cases a day by the end of February if we continue at home and don’t mix,” he said.

Elsewhere, the Director of the National Virus Reference Laboratory said they were concerned about the South African variant of the coronavirus.

Dr Cillian De Gascun said 11 cases of the South African variant were detected, all related to travel.

He said the chance for the virus to replicate and reproduce must be lowered because that’s when mutations occur.

Additional reporting Karen Creed, Fergal Bowers



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