The government ‘accepts’ recommendations to suppress home visits

THE GOVERNMENT HAS accepted recommendations from public health experts to introduce stricter restrictions on home visits.

The public health team advising the ministers urged that a maximum of six people from the same household be allowed to go to another house, in all parts of the country.

Health Minister Stephen Donnelly said the government has accepted the advice.

The National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) said that people should still be able to meet socially in other settings, but only with people from another household.

The crackdown on domestic visitors is being introduced to curb the spread of Covid-19 after more than 400 new coronavirus infections were detected yesterday.

Donnelly said he received a “very tough letter” from the acting medical director, Dr. Ronan Glynn, after the Nphet meeting yesterday.

“Unfortunately, despite the magnificent efforts of people across the country that are slowing the acceleration of the virus, it is still moving fast,” he told RTE Morning Ireland.

“Now we are in 94 cases per 100,000. The five-day average, which is quite concerning, now exceeds 400 new cases per day.

“One thing I look at is the impact on our hospitals. We have seen a 30% increase in hospitalizations in the last week alone.

“We are now at 119 people and the number of people going into intensive care is also increasing and sadly, the evidence from around the world is that as those numbers increase, deaths continue.

“The R number is now 1.3, which means that the level of the virus is doubling every two weeks.”

He said the main mode of transmission is close contacts and the main clusters across the country are within households.

“What is spreading this virus more than anything is the different households that are in each other,” Donnelly warned.