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The government could lower the limit on people’s exercise distance from 5 km to 2 km if Level 5 restrictions do not sufficiently reduce the number of Covid-19 cases, a minister said.
As the Irish Times reports, Transport Minister Eamon Ryan raised the possibility of the reduction, as the latest figures show that the number of people admitted to hospital with the virus continues to rise.
673 patients at the hospital were treated for the virus Sunday morning with 75 admissions and 23 discharges from the hospital during the previous 24 hours.
This is more than double the number of people hospitalized with Covid-19 a week earlier. The daily rate of hospitalizations is the highest since the pandemic began in March.
There were 56 seriously ill patients in the intensive care units on Saturday night with 10 new admissions and one discharge in the last 24 hours.
Ryan told Newstalk radio that other measures could be taken in addition to the Level 5 restrictions, such as reducing travel from 5 km to 2 km, as happened during the first lockdown if infections did not decrease.
Hospital capacity
“That’s for a week or two if the numbers don’t start to flatten out and then decline,” the minister said.
Currently, under Level 5 restrictions, people must stay home, except to travel for work, education or other essential purposes, and will be allowed to exercise within 5 km of their home.
Ryan said the government had ordered all non-essential hospital procedures to be postponed if hospitals reach capacity to handle Covid-19 cases.
It comes as the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organization (INMO) warned that hospitals were now under “extreme” pressure.
The union said its members were concerned about a “significant increase in the number of patients presenting, along with high levels of staff absent due to Covid or self-isolation.”
IMMO Secretary General Phil Ní Sheaghdha said that “the progress we made in keeping case numbers low appears to be completely undone.
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