PLANS TO EXIT LOCKDOWN ‘ON COUNTY BASIS’

But Government fears ‘war’ if restrictions are kept for Dublin

LOCKDOWN restrictions will continue for at least a fortnight beyond Easter – which falls next weekend – and might only be lifted on a phased ‘regional or county’ basis, the Irish Mail on Sunday can reveal.

The Government is considering a range of measures to ease restrictions before irreversible economic damage sets in.

After a two-week period of draconian restrictions on movement and commercial activity, due to expire

next Sunday, a senior Government source told the MoS last night that ministers are almost certain to impose a further fortnight of full lockdown.

The National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) will decide this week whether or not to ‘tweak’ restrictions.

But there is increasing unease in Government and beyond, that a Cabinet operating in a ‘caretaker’ capacity does not have a cogent exit plan from lockdown.

The Government is contemplating imposing a phased lifting of the measures.

The matter was raised at a meeting of Dáil leaders last Thursday.

Independent TD Denis Naughten said that a senior health official revealed that regions that do not have high incidences of Covid-19 would have the restrictions lifted, while other areas would remain in lockdown.

As Dublin has the highest rate per capita of confirmed cases, as per the map on page 12, this strategy would be politically fraught.

A Government source said: ‘That is not 100% agreed on, as you could imagine the reaction if half the country was released from lockdown and Dublin was closed down for longer. There would be war.’

It comes as the MoS can reveal that only 1,200 tests for coronavirus are being carried out in the country’s testing centres every day, far lower than the 15,000 health officials say they can achieve in two weeks’ time and lower than any figure previously stated.

After repeated requests for information from the MoS, the HSE last night finally issued the 1,200

‘If Dublin was closed for longer there’d be war’

figure as officials desperately scramble to source testing kits and chemicals, which are running out around the world.

The MoS also reveals that at least five of the large community testing centres set up to allow for mass testing have been closed for several days, despite claims to the contrary by the HSE.

Over several days, the MoS visited coronavirus testing centres – on the LÉ Samuel Beckett, Croke Park and Tallaght in Dublin, Tullamore, Co. Offaly, and Nowlan Park, Kilkenny, – and found they were not operating, while the Longford testing centre in Connolly Barracks has yet to open.

It also comes as an MoS analysis of figures indicates that close to 10,000 vulnerable nursing home residents and their care staff have already been put at risk by the rising number of Covid-19 clusters in the sector.

The high number of coronavirus clusters in nursing homes has raised fears that a large proportion of the deaths from the disease are among the nursing home population, even though the sector took action weeks before official Government moves to stem the spread of the virus.

We also reveal pictures from inside a makeshift mortuary set up in a tent on the grounds of the Royal Hospital, Kilmainham, to house an expected increase in coronavirus dead.

It was announced yesterday that another 17 people had died from the disease in Ireland, bringing the total dead to 137, with 331 new cases confirmed. This brings the total confirmed cases in the country to 4,604.

Government sources told the MoS at the weekend that they believe they have obtained powers under legislation to continue extending the lockdown period well into the summer. The Government passed the emergency legislation 10 days ago. But this Government cannot pass further legislation until a new Taoiseach is elected.

One option being considered to ease Ireland out of lockdown is a controversial ‘hotspotting’ or targeting of regions of high Covid-19 infection. Hotspotting is being considered by senior health officials and politicians.

However, one senior political source said the move is ‘unlikely’.

Senior health officials have recommended that the Government consider using new emergency legislation to quarantine whole regions of concentrated coronavirus infection.

However, politicians who would have to deal with the divisive fallout of choosing particular towns or counties for selective lockdown told the MoS last night that this is ‘unlikely’ due to population dispersal.

In the Bill, voted into law last week by the Oireachtas, a section, refers to ‘Affected Areas Orders’.

Part III of the Act, in an amendment to the 1947 Health Act, allows the health minister to restrict travel to and from an area of Covid-19 concentration.

But ministers and their advisers are citing discussions at the committees managing the crisis to play down that possibility.

A Government source said: ‘The view ultimately taken by NPHET was that Ireland is too small for that to work.’

A Cabinet source said last night: ‘My gut feeling is that the restrictions are going to have to be extended, but what I don’t yet know is whether they could be tweaked a bit. I imagine they might be.’

Mr Naughten had raised the questions of how the Government plans to move out of the lockdown period.

He said: ‘The primary focus has to be on health, there is no doubt about that. But there are an awful lot of people who should be involved in looking at how do we get out of this and how should we plan for it.

‘The Taoiseach in response to me said he has now asked his civil servants to start drawing up a plan in relation to that. That is positive.

‘But the Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Alan Smyth, said that they are now looking at how they remove the restrictions that are currently in place.’

A Cabinet source said: ‘If you deal with this as a public health emergency, the more intensively you deal with that emergency the quicker you’ll get through the virus, the quicker your economy gets back.

‘If you deal with this the way other countries have been doing it you actually do longer-term damage to your economy because the virus will stay with you longer.’

‘Now looking at how to remove the restrictions’