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People in Dublin and Limerick are facing a ban on visiting other people’s homes if the spike in Covid-19 cases in both cities doesn’t stabilize by the weekend.
The government is considering introducing restrictions on the movement of people similar to those introduced in Glasgow, where family gatherings are seen as the engine of an increase in infections there.
The Nicola Sturgeon government has responded to a rapid increase in cases in Scotland’s second city by restricting people from visiting other people’s homes or welcoming people from other homes into their own homes.
At the same time, it has allowed pubs and restaurants to stay open and allowed people to gather outside.
A total of 307 new cases were reported Tuesday, the highest number since mid-May, along with the first death in nearly a month. A total of 307 new cases were reported Tuesday, along with the first death in nearly a month. The highest daily number of new infections since mid-May raised the number of cases since the pandemic began beyond the 30,000 mark, to 30,080.
Dublin accounted for 182 of the new cases, prompting medical director Dr. Ronan Glynn to express concern about the growing number of cases in the capital.
Sprouts at home
Most of the cases identified in Dublin stem from outbreaks at home and not from public social settings such as pubs and restaurants.
The National Public Health Emergency Team will meet Thursday to discuss the latest data and then advise the Cabinet subcommittee on Covid-19. Dr Glynn has stressed in recent days the need for numbers to stabilize in Dublin and Limerick.
The restrictions, if introduced, would be less punitive than the recent closures of Co Kildare, Co Offaly and Co Laois.
A senior government source said that emphasis would be placed on asking people to take personal responsibility for limiting the number of their social contacts and their movements. That could include guidelines for reducing public transportation use and for some workers to return to work from home.
It came when the Cabinet decided to allow some 3,500 pubs serving drinks to reopen on September 21. After being closed for six months, the so-called “wet” pubs will be able to operate under similar guidelines to the places that serve food.
A government spokeswoman said Tuesday that the reopening would apply to all pubs. If regional restrictions were introduced as a result of increasing numbers, they would be more extensive and affect other businesses and not just pubs.
Travel breach
Separately, on Tuesday evening, a second member of Fáilte Ireland’s board resigned. Breege O’Donoghue went on vacation to his second home in Marbella, Spain, for a week in July and another week in August despite the government advising against non-essential travel to that country.
The government is expected to publish its medium-term plan to deal with the pandemic early next week. This is expected to allow for a larger number of spectators at outdoor sporting events such as GAA and rugby.
A cabinet source said Tuesday that Covid would be in Ireland for a long time and that the government needed to strike a balancing act between containing the virus and keeping the economy open.
“We have to be very careful with any notion of a lockdown in Dublin,” said the source. “It represents a third of the economy, so it should be kept open as much as possible.”
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