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The government expects to apply the “minimal additional restrictions” necessary to keep Covid-19 low after Level 5 measures are lifted, according to Health Minister Stephen Donnelly.
But this could only happen if “we all follow the basic principles” of infection control, he told the Oireachtas health committee yesterday.
Blaming a mixture of “congregation and alcohol” at house parties and “sports celebrations” for the spread of the virus in recent months, he said the coronavirus exploits “very small transgressions.”
“Most of the time it was people who had followed him to the letter for seven months and then said ‘For God’s sake, I only need to drop this once’ and then they let him go for one night,” he said. .
The reproduction number, a key indicator of the spread of Covid-19, fell below 1 for the first time in four months, the committee was told.
It is now between 0.7 and 0.9, the minister said, compared with 1 last week. However, this is still above the value of 0.5 that public health officials say is necessary to reduce the number of cases to double digits by next month.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin confirmed last night that the Level 5 lockdown will last six weeks as scheduled even though the number of cases will decrease.
He told the weekly meeting of the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party that a full period was needed to reduce the numbers enough for Christmas and beyond.
He said the government was working on compiling specific data sets on Covid levels in key sectors of the economy. This would help inform the State’s exit strategy from the severe restrictions currently in place.
Nursing homes
Donnelly will announce an additional € 42 million in Covid-19-related financial support for nursing homes next year on Thursday.
The money provided under the temporary assistance payment plan is designed to offset the additional costs borne by private and voluntary nursing homes due to Covid, and to help households managing an outbreak by funding additional staff and equipment.
The funding covers the first six months of 2021 and is in addition to spending 134.5 million euros under the plan this year. The HSE separately provides personal protective equipment for the industry.
In the latest major outbreak of the virus in nursing homes, 19 residents and staff at a Co Kerry facility tested positive, it became known Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the National Public Health Emergency Team yesterday reported eight more deaths of Covid-19 patients and 444 new cases of the virus.
The minister said that the incidence of the disease was decreasing in 23 of the 26 counties of the Republic. Three counties reported no new cases Wednesday.
However, there is still concern for parts of Dublin where the number of cases continues to rise or is “stagnant” rather than falling.
The number of new outbreaks in schools dropped to 30 last week, mid-term, compared to 46 the previous week, according to the HSE. However, the number of open investigations in the sector increased from 96 to 125 last week.
Last week, there were 320 new outbreaks linked to private homes, 16 to residential institutions and 11 to workplaces, including two in meat plants.
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