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Ireland is tightening the coronavirus rules, but will not enter a second national lockdown, despite calls from the country’s health chiefs.
After a cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Micheal Martin announced that Ireland would move from level 2 of its restrictions to level 3, with new measures including a ban on all indoor restaurant meals.
The measure, which will take effect from midnight tomorrow, will last at least three weeks.
It comes despite a call from the country’s National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) for the country to move to level 5, a second national lockdown.
Martin said: “Businesses are beginning to recover and vital public health services are still behind schedule.
“The severe restrictions now would have a very damaging impact from which those services and businesses may not be able to recover.
“We have decided, at this stage, not to move to a more complete lockdown.”
Sunday’s NPHET recommendation came just three days after the group told ministers that the current restrictions, at level 2, were appropriate for most of the country.
Ireland It will remain at level 3 until October 27, which means that social and family gatherings and gatherings organized indoors will be prohibited, except for funerals and weddings.
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People will be asked to stay within their county and work from home unless absolutely unavoidable, while schools and other educational establishments must remain open.
Stores, outdoor playgrounds, play areas and parks can remain open, as can hairdressers, beauticians, barbers, opticians as long as they follow the rules on protective measures.
Hotels, guesthouses and B & Bs may remain open, but with limited services to residents.
Restaurants and cafes, including bars, pubs that serve food, or wet pubs (those that do not serve food) may remain open for takeout and delivery and outdoor dining / services up to an absolute maximum of 15 people.
Dublin’s wet pubs remain closed, along with all of Ireland’s museums, galleries, cinemas and other cultural attractions.
Level 5 would have seen people asked to stay home except for exercise within three miles (5 km) and only essential retailers were allowed to stay open.
Ireland reported the highest number of new daily infections since late April on Saturday, but its 14-day cumulative case total is 104 per 100,000 people.
That puts the country 14th in terms of infection rate out of 31 European countries monitored by the European Center for Disease Control.
But one of the health officials who advised the shutdown said Ireland’s limited hospital capacity meant it could run out of intensive care beds as early as November if the current trajectory of COVID-19 cases continued.
Ireland has recorded 1,810 deaths among 38,549 people who contracted coronavirus, according to Johns Hopkins University, which is tracking the pandemic.
