We will still be in the cycle of ‘highest and lowest’ restrictions until 2021, Taoiseach warns



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A swing period of more than a year of higher and lower checks can be anticipated, the Taoiseach al Dáil told, adding that the country is now in a Covid cycle.

I’m just being very honest, I anticipate a period where there will be periods of higher-level restrictions, followed by lower-level restrictions and, if necessary, followed by higher-level restrictions again, ”said Micheál Martin.

“We will be dealing with this” until 2021, the Taoiseach said, but the country, through the EU, has now signed up for advance orders for two other vaccines that are in development, in addition to the already secured agreement for the Vaccine. Astra Zeneca.

Even when a working vaccine has been successfully developed, it would take many months to manufacture and distribute it and Ireland would still be dealing with Covid-19, he said.

He added: “I think in the new year we may have to consider more restrictions again, until we get a vaccine.”

Rise TD Paul Murphy said that the yo-yo approach, “on the lock, off the lock, on the lock,” would be a nightmare for people.

He urged the government to follow a Covid zero proposal, which the Taoiseach said “cannot be implemented.”

Martin said: “We are testing many more people than in the first lockdown. We are testing at an unprecedented rate right now, and serological testing programs are detecting many cases, especially in nursing homes.

“They have also been testing schools, and up to 13,000 students and teachers have been tested. I think the level of positivity is around 3 percent.”

Construction was allowed to continue because people needed a roof over their head, “And because we have a housing and homeless crisis,” said the Taoiseach.

“We need to build houses. We lost ground during the first closure and our construction sector suffered a greater impact than that of any other country in the world, in terms of production and homes built ”.

Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said the government now has six weeks “to do the things that I think your government should have done during the summer months, when we achieved a very low transmission rate of Covid-19. At that time, the collective sacrifice suppressed the virus.

“We cannot miss this second window of opportunity to build capacity and our defenses for the future,” he said.

“We need to see a plan to increase hospital bed capacity and quick hire of staff. We have to do the correct testing and tracking. And we have to do things right with respect to the people who come to the island through our airports and ports. “

He said it would be “unthinkable” for the Dáil to meet again in six weeks without having responded to these challenges.

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