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Health Minister Stephen Donnelly has said we are unlikely to see a widespread reopening of the country by March 5.
The current Level Five restrictions will be in effect until the date the Government will review the closure.
However, Minister Donnelly today echoed the Taoiseach’s warnings that the lockdown would likely last longer, as he warned that the number of cases will remain the focus rather than how many people have been vaccinated.
Speaking to RTE Morning Ireland, Donnelly said: “We will have to be guided by public health advice at that point. Things are going in the right direction in terms of case numbers.
“But as Dr. Holohan said last night, the rate of decline is slowing down and we are watching it very closely.
“Now that we get to March 5, which is when the measures have been extended, I think to be honest [the decision] it will have less to do with how many people have been vaccinated and more with the progress of the disease and how much it has been repressed in the community.
“It’s probably too early to speculate exactly what will happen in March. What we can say with some certainty is that not everything would open from March 6, especially with this UK variant.
“For the next five weeks we have to focus on two things.
“Suppressing the virus, and that really means that people stay home. We have to focus on getting the vaccines and getting them into people’s arms as quickly as possible and then start looking for a careful, controlled reopening.”
Donnelly added that 1.1 million doses of vaccines will have reached Ireland by the end of March.
Speaking about the prospect of the return of major sporting and musical events, Donnelly said he would look forward to seeing them return this year, it will depend on how effective the vaccines are.
The minister added: “One of the things that I have asked NPHET is to observe how quickly the risk of serious illness and fatality decreases as we vaccinate the most vulnerable.
“NPHET will be watching, as we go through March, April and May, how we are doing with the numbers and, given that we will have vaccinated the most vulnerable group, what is the risk profile for the country.”
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