Ireland Faces Covid-19 Restrictions During First Six Months Of 2021 And Vaccine Delay For Over 70s

Ireland faces tough Covid-19 restrictions for the first six months of the year, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said on Saturday.

Martin said that while he was not necessarily suggesting a six-month shutdown, the government would be taking a “cautious and conservative approach” to reopening the country, particularly in light of new variants of the virus.

The National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) has warned that the restrictions currently in place should be extended until the end of February, dampening hopes of a reopening of the construction sector early next month.

Sources expect the restrictions to be extended until at least the end of February, although the government expects some elements of education, especially special education, to be able to reopen next month. There is also hope that a partial reopening of construction will be possible later in the month.

But speaking on RTÉ Radio One on Saturday morning, Mr. Martin said that in order to relax some restrictions next month, the figures for Covid cases must be “far below.” He said he was concerned about the UK variant as it is currently responsible for 62 per cent of cases.

“It is transmitted more easily. If we have mass mobilization and mass socialization, it will spread again. I think with the arrival of vaccines, it is necessary to be cautious and conservative during the first half of this year until we launch the vaccines, “he said.

“We will witness much longer restrictions than we have had to date. I am the Taoiseach, but I have to consult with my colleagues and ministers, and we will also consult with the opposition, but that is my opinion until we take control.

He added: “By the way, I am not saying there is a six-month lockdown, I am simply saying that we will have a conservative and cautious approach to reopening and we will review it every four weeks.”

Mr. Martin said that by the summer there will be a “different environment” due to the large-scale vaccination that will have been achieved by then.

The Social Democrat TD Róisín Shortall was critical of this approach and stated that what the Government has been doing in recent months “is not working.”

“We need to take a new approach. We need stricter confinements, tough and everything that is going to be, “he told RTÉ radio one.

“We need to have a longer-term plan. We are unable to operate on a four week term basis. Continual blocks don’t work, we have to face that and we have to take a new approach. I strongly believe that that approach has to be a Covid zero approach. “

Shot of vaccine

On Friday, new questions were raised about the delivery schedule for the AstraZeneca vaccine, which changed the rules of the game. The company told the European Commission that there would be delays in the delivery of the vaccine compared to the forecast for the first quarter of the year.

Mr. Martin said that the Government was waiting for this vaccine and that its delay “will put us in trouble.” He believes the launch of the vaccine to those over 70 will be delayed due to production problems with the AstraZeneca vaccine.

“AstraZeneca was going to be the catalyst from low to mass vaccination,” he added.

In a post on Twitter, Health Minister Stephen Donnelly said the AstraZeneca news is “a real setback.”

“The figures are still tentative and AstraZeneca is due to provide more exact figures at a meeting early next week. It will provide an update as soon as possible, ”he said.

Speaking with Katie Hannon on RTÉ Radio One on Saturday, the HSE clinical director said this news was “disappointing.”

Dr. Henry said this will have an impact on the vaccination program, but said there have been “many obstacles along the way” that “did not turn out to be as bad as predicted.”

However, he acknowledged that vaccination of new cohorts of healthcare workers would likely be delayed until February.

Following this announcement, Phil Ní Sheaghdha, director of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organization, said that workers facing the “eye of the storm” need better protections.

Schools

Meanwhile, on the subject of schools, the Taoiseach said there was unlikely to be a “big bang approach” to the reopening.

He said the 1 million children will not return to full-time face-to-face education before St. Patrick’s Day, but they can “scale things up and do things differently.”

Regarding the special schools specifically, Mr. Martin said it was a “failure in all respects” that the reopening of these facilities has been delayed twice. He said that while everyone acted in “good faith,” there was a “mismatch” between those who wanted to try to reopen and those who were fearful and anxious about public health.

Amid growing fears among EU governments about new variants of the disease, countries across the bloc have moved to tighten travel restrictions and new measures to combat the virus have been reimposed across the world.

The Cabinet’s Covid subcommittee will meet on Monday and discuss a number of options on tougher quarantine restrictions, including changes to the visa regime.

While there are continuing top-level doubts about the effectiveness and applicability of a blanket mandatory quarantine, arrivals from South Africa and Brazil, as well as other South American countries, may face a hotel quarantine period if a total ban. The sources said that this approach would allow the state to “test” how such a system would work.

‘Forget about traveling’

However, Martin said that the “majority” of the people entering the country are Irish returning from holiday abroad, which he said “they shouldn’t have.”

“Forget about traveling. You shouldn’t go to your property abroad if you have one, you shouldn’t go on vacation. Forget it, ”he said.

“We are seeing that Gardaí do controls at airports and say ‘why are you going on vacation? You shouldn’t go on vacation. You shouldn’t go out of your 5 km. “

Mr. Martin made the comments as the number of Covid-19 cases in the Republic remains in the thousands and the number of deaths is increasing.

An additional 52 coronavirus-related deaths were reported in the state Friday night, along with another 2,371 confirmed cases.

On Saturday there were 1,893 people treated in the hospitals of the Republic by Covid-19, with 218 seriously ill people in ICU.

There is growing concern about capacity in the ICU units this weekend. Cork University Hospital staff were asked to volunteer for shifts to provide critical care on Friday night, as the hospital was affected by staff absences due to Covid-19. The HSE said patients were being transferred from the west of the country to ICU units at Dublin hospitals, with sources saying more transfers are likely this weekend and next week.