[ad_1]
PEOPLE WHO HAVE traveled from Britain to Ireland since December 8 are under “enhanced surveillance” due to concerns about a new strain of Covid-19 that has been identified there.
HSE Clinical Director Dr Colm Henry said he is not sure how many people who have arrived in Ireland from Britain in recent weeks have since tested positive for the virus.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Henry said NPHET will meet today and “will seek better surveillance of these incoming passengers.”
Around 30,000 people have come from Britain to Ireland since December 8. The HSE yesterday issued updated advice for these individuals, who are now being asked to self-isolate for 14 days regardless of the Covid-19 test result.
Previously, those returning from Britain were warned that they could stop restricting their movements if they received a negative PCR test result five days or more after arrival.
More than 20 flights to Ireland from London in the first three weeks of December contained at least one passenger who subsequently tested positive for Covid-19, the Irish Examiner reported today.
Henry said that the personal locator forms completed by people when they enter Ireland will be used to communicate with them and make sure they are aware of the new guide and where they can be evaluated.
“We are actively monitoring all the cases, now what we want to do is make sure that all of those people are aware of this enhanced public health advice that they should isolate themselves rather than just restrict movement, so that we can prevent the transmission of this transmissible variant ”, declared Henry.
Speaking on Monday, the director of the National Virus Reference Laboratory, Dr Cillian De Gascun, said there is still no “hard evidence” that the new strain circulating in the UK is more infectious than other strains.
The European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) has said that there is a lack of evidence on the new strain to date, but it has an estimated potential to increase the reproductive number (R) by 0.4 or more, and it is estimated to be 70% more transmissible than previous strains.
‘Incredibly tough advice’
Speaking on the same program, Transportation Minister Eamon Ryan said the new guidance is “very tough advice, but we have to pay attention to what they say, which comes from our public health officials.”
Ryan said the recent increase in cases in Ireland (970 cases and 13 deaths were reported yesterday) is “the reason they have given such incredibly tough and difficult advice to everyone who has come since December 8.”
“That is their best assessment of what needs to be done to handle the situation,” he said, reiterating that the passenger locator forms will be used to contact people.
The Irish government first introduced a suspension of passenger flights and ferries from Britain on Sunday night for an initial period of 48 hours. Since then, it has been extended until at least December 31.
‘Dire predictions’
The new strain of the virus has yet to be detected in Ireland, but Henry said we should act like it’s already here.
He said the recent surge in cases is “an unexpected growth beyond the scariest model predictions based on last week.”
“We can speculate whether this new strain is already here and has contributed to that growth, in some way, it doesn’t matter.
No news is bad news
Support the magazine
your contributions help us continue to deliver the stories that are important to you
Support us now
“It is a message to all of us that now, with uncompromising community transmission and the growth of this virus, we must stick to the measures that we know will interrupt the transmission of this.”
The first Covid-19 vaccines in Ireland will be administered on December 30, the Health Minister confirmed yesterday.
About 10,000 doses of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine are expected to be delivered on St. Stephen’s Day.
“This is the only beacon of hope that we can offer people, and there is no evidence that this new strain is resistant to the vaccine,” Henry said.
[ad_2]