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Medical Director Tony Holohan said the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) will discuss additional measures regarding travel in and out of Ireland to examine whether any changes need to be made to that specific aspect of the coronavirus plan.
There are “very little chance” that bars and pubs will open in June due to the difficulty of meeting the necessary restrictions to maintain physical distance, he told RTÉ radio Today with the Séan O’Rourke program.
The country is fine, he said. “We are holding on. We have managed to suppress the spread of the infection,” but there was an impact among vulnerable groups and in nursing homes.
There have never been more than 1,000 cases in a single day, he said.
“Traveling remains a challenge,” he admitted, and the recommendation remains that people avoid all non-essential travel both off-island and back to Ireland.
He added that the issue will be discussed today along with the mandatory quarantine.
Dr. Holohan said the government will be given advice after the Nphet meeting, but said that social distancing will continue to be the “challenge”.
When asked about the possibility of a cure before there is a Covid-19 vaccine, Dr. Holohan said that great efforts are being made internationally to develop a vaccine and drugs to treat the virus, some of which they are promising.
We haven’t seen any game change if you could put it that way, the way we’ve seen other drugs get rid of viruses like hepatitis C.
His department is looking at children receiving the flu shot this fall, saying he needs to “minimize the impact of that infection.”
He said: “The flu every year affects people in many of the same vulnerable groups that we have now identified. ‘The flu may not be as severe as Covid-19, but it spreads in the same settings, healthcare settings, nursing homes, schools.
“That is why we hope to bring the children to the group that should receive the vaccine.”
Dr. Holohan acknowledged that cocoon advice has been difficult, but said that people in these groups should not put themselves at risk.
Regarding nursing homes, Dr. Holohan said that visitors did not bring the infection to nursing homes. He said that when visitor restrictions were introduced, that point was before any group of infections was reported.
He was eager to emphasize this point as he knew that some people felt guilty that they had infected their loved ones.
He said that more than one incubation period had elapsed before the groups appeared in nursing homes and took over the assessment that visitor restrictions were not necessary until the time they were introduced.
Regarding the Leaving Cert exam, Dr. Holohan said the Nphet had advised the Department of Education on a variety of different measures and the time frame around those measures, every three weeks, but the decision on the exams is a matter. of importance. Minister of Education.
Dr. Holohan said that the Nphet had a job to do, provide public advice and ensure that each sector implemented its own plans to provide services in line with that advice.
He stressed that it was necessary to allow three weeks between each phase to allow enough time to see if something was detected that was not predicted in terms of the virus.
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