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The administration of US President Joe Biden will continue restrictions on travel to the United States from Ireland, the United Kingdom, Brazil and 26 countries in Europe that the Trump administration planned to relax starting Monday, a White House official said.
The United States will also bar entry to most non-U.S. Citizens who have recently been to South Africa in response to the new Covid-19 strain there, according to the official familiar with the plan who requested anonymity because the plans have not been made public. . .
It is unclear how long the restrictions will continue.
This is consistent with comments from White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, who tweeted on January 18 that “this is not the time to lift restrictions on international travel.”
The United States is cautiously observing new strains of coronavirus that have originated in South Africa and Brazil, as well as one recently identified in the United Kingdom.
Reuters first reported on the United States plan to ban travel from South Africa to most non-US citizens, citing officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Nurse Lisbeth Brown cares for a Covid-19 patient in the ICU at Sharp Grossmont Hospital, amid a coronavirus pandemic in La Mesa, east of San Diego, California this week. Photography: Etienne Laurent / EPA
Progress
Earlier on Sunday, the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) reported another 23 deaths of Covid-19 patients.
It brings the total number of deaths in the pandemic to 2,970. Nphet also reported 1,378 more cases of the disease, bringing the total recorded to date to 187,554.
Of the cases reported on Sunday, 643 are men and 730 women, while 58% are under 45 years of age. The median age is 39 years. A total of 379 cases occurred in Dublin, 145 in Cork, 86 in Wexford, 85 in Galway, 71 in Limerick and the remaining 612 cases are distributed in all other counties. As of 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, 1,931 Covid-19 patients are hospitalized, of which 218 are in the ICU. 44 additional hospitalizations in the last 24 hours.
Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan said that while Ireland is “beginning to make progress” in reducing the level of the virus in the community, “this is a critical time for all of us to stand firm on health councils. public.
“We must not lower our guard against this highly infectious disease and the risk it represents for us and the most vulnerable from a medical point of view to infection,” he added in a statement.
“There is a large volume of disease in the country and the recent increase in cases continues to put unprecedented pressure on ICUs, hospitals and other front-line healthcare services. The answer is to reduce social contact and congregation in all settings, including workplaces.
“Anyone who can should work from home whenever possible. For those of us who cannot work from home, it is critical to follow public health advice in the workplace, such as wearing face covers when moving around common areas. We urge all employers to make working from home as easy as possible and to ensure strict adherence to public health measures in the workplace.
HSE Executive Director Paul Reid at a press conference. Photograph: Sam Boal / Photocall Ireland
Hospitals
Also Sunday, HSE chief Paul Reid said there is a “significant portfolio” of patients who may need intensive care facilities and that this presents a “real challenge” for the hospital system.
Reid said there were 24 free intensive care beds there on Sunday statewide. There were 1,914 patients in hospitals with Covid-19, including 218 in intensive care units.
Mr. Reid said that eight hospitals had reached the level of their emergency capacity for patients needing intensive care and that some had to be transferred in recent days to other hospitals.
Speaking on RTÉ Radio One’s This Week program, he said that having spoken with consultants in this area there have been significant differences in recent weeks in terms of “delayed departures” of patients from intensive care units and increased mortality.
Reid said there are still 430 Covid-19 patients receiving critical care in hospitals outside of intensive care units. He said that about two-thirds of these patients would be discharged, but a third could need to go to intensive care units or even die.
Medical director Dr. Tony Holohan said Saturday night that Ireland was beginning to flatten the curve again “through the solidarity shown by families and communities across the country.” The National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) announced another 77 deaths of patients with Covid-19 and reported 1,910 more cases of the disease, bringing the total number of cases registered to date and the total number of deaths in the pandemic to 186,184. at 2,947.
Saturday is the first time that the number of cases has fallen below 2,000 since January 1, despite the fact that the number of deaths from the disease remains high and the Republic’s hospitals remain under heavy pressure.
But Mr. Reid tweeted Sunday morning that he was “fighting to maintain the levels of care we value and to save lives.” He said 650 Covid-19 patients were receiving some level of critical care, with 214 in the ICU and 436 on advanced respiratory support. “It’s not an Emergency Department crisis right now, but it’s probably more critical than that,” he added. There were 1,893 people in the hospital with coronavirus as of 8 p.m. Saturday.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin said on Saturday that Ireland faces Covid-19 restrictions for the first six months of the year, noting that a problem with the supply of the AstraZeneca vaccine would delay the release to those over 70. He also said schools would not be fully open to all students before St. Patrick’s Day and confirmed that the Cabinet would consider restrictions on travel abroad when it meets this week.
More expensive
The HSE executive director said on Sunday that higher grade FFP2 masks were being provided to more staff in hospitals, as requested by the Irish Organization of Nurses and Midwives over the weekend.
He said the reduction of these masks had increased from 130,000 per week to 1.3 million per week.
He said the HSE had “lowered the bar” on where such masks should be worn on January 13. He said that if risk dictated that such higher grade masks should be worn, then they were available to staff. He said the HSE will strengthen its communication with the hospital system on this issue if necessary. He said the HSE had a good supply of such FFP2 masks from an Irish company.
Mr. Reid also said that the HSE would launch more tests for staff in hospitals on January 27 using a supply of 500,000 antigen tests that he had received.
He said the HSE was eager to see a resumption of close contact testing of Covid-19 cases that was suspended several weeks ago as a result of the large increase in the number involved. However, he said it would take the number of cases to drop below 2,000 steadily for several days for this to happen.
Reid also said that by the end of Sunday, residents and staff of all nursing homes would have received the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine with the exception of a very small number due to the outbreaks.
Reid said the plan to begin vaccinating people over 70 in the community will continue from mid-February, despite AstraZeneca’s announcement on Friday that there would be delays in supplying supplies. “We are still not very sure of the amounts in terms of how long it will take to complete that (process).” – Additional reports from Bloomberg
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