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A return to a total “March-style” Level 5 lockdown can be implemented in a few days as government ministers will meet after the “exponential growth” in Covid-19 cases.
The cabinet will hold an unscheduled meeting on Wednesday to decide whether additional measures are required to control rising infection rates across the country, Health Minister Stephen Donnelly told RTÉ radio.
The introduction of full Level 5 restrictions on the recommendation of the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) will be discussed at the emergency meeting, the Irish Examiner reports.
The government has already imposed a closure with “specific” adjustments, closing all bars and restaurants and prohibiting all home visits as of January 1.
However, nonessential retail, gyms and schools remain open in a departure from the tighter closure that took place in March when the pandemic first hit Ireland.
Implementing a full Level 5 lockdown would result in the closure of non-essential retailers, along with a ban on non-essential movements beyond 5 kilometers from a person’s home to exercise.
Schools
“We will look at the entire spectrum … and see in light of the increase in cases and the increase in hospitalizations what is appropriate,” Minister Donnelly said Tuesday.
The schools are currently expected to reopen after the Christmas holidays, despite the suggestion that they close for another week to further suppress the spread of the virus.
However, Higher Education Minister Simon Harris has said that all options will remain on the table at Wednesday’s cabinet meeting.
He added that events such as the end-of-year holidays are “a complete no-no” and said that while vaccines offer light, the spectrum of up to 2,000 cases a day is a “potentially very dark time” for the country.
Minister Donnelly said the cabinet position remains that schools should open next week, as the school is a safer place for children than the community.
The minister cited rapidly rising hospitalization rates as a point of concern, with figures skyrocketing from 234 people with Covid-19 last week to 409 on Tuesday.
Ireland did not want to be in the same position as the United Kingdom, where the NHS was overwhelmed with Covid-19 cases, he said.
Minister Donnelly said that regardless of the level of restrictions the country is in, the advice remains to limit the number of contacts.
Some people diagnosed as positive in recent days had “up to 30 close contacts.” Social events were happening with too many people attending, he said.
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