DELTA SURGE ‘WON’T DELAY OPENING PLANS’

Poll shows public supports return of indoor dining

VOTERS and Ministers have backed Taoiseach Micheál Martin’s summer reopening gamble as Covid-19 cases soar in the face of the Delta surge, the Irish Mail on Sunday can reveal.

Another 1,377 new cases of the virus were confirmed yesterday amid growing fears the infection rate will soon rise to over 2,000 a day.

However, senior ministers said this weekend the significant spike in cases will not derail the Government’s plan to fully reopen pubs and restaurants from July 26.

One Cabinet source told the Irish Mail on Sunday: ‘There is no turning back now. We must hold our nerve.’ A poll conducted by

Ireland Thinks for the MoS, published today, reveals almost two thirds, 63%, of those surveyed back the further reopening of the country – 38% said they believe the country is opening up at the right pace, with a quarter, 25%, saying things are opening up ‘too little’. And 35% said they believe ‘things are opening up too much’.

Divisions between the Taoiseach and the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) arose this week after Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan advised parents not to bring children into restaurants as Covid cases rocket, driven by the Delta variant.

However, ministerial sources said Mr Martin has Cabinet backing on the issue and that there are no plans to further delay the reopening of restaurants and pubs.

One minister told the MoS: ‘It’s a race between the vaccine and the virus. There is a critical six-week window ahead. If we are brave and careful now, we will be in a good space. Like Scotland, we may go very high very quick. We must hold our nerve.’

It appears the Taoiseach enjoys the backing of most of the public. Half of those surveyed said they believe children should be allowed to dine indoors with their families. However, 41% of those polled said children shouldn’t be allowed into indoor hospitality settings yet, and 9% said they ‘don’t know’.

Most people, 59%, said they are in favour of allowing only those that are vaccinated to dine indoors, compared to 35% who are against the move.

However, there is still uneasiness about returning to indoor dining, with 47% saying they intend to attend a pub or restaurant once they reopen this month, compared to 44% who said they wouldn’t.

Fears over the renewed surge in cases were heightened yesterday after the Department of Health confirmed a further 1,377 people have contracted the virus. As of 8am yesterday there were 78 patients with Covid-19 being treated in hospital, an increase on 52 the previous Saturday. Twentytwo of these were in ICU, an increase of six compared to the same day last week.

Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr Ronan Glynn said the country’s Covid-19 incidence rate had now risen to more than 180 per 100,000, with NPHET reporting five-day average cases of more than 800 per day, the highest the rate has been since mid-February.

Dr Glynn said: ‘We are seeing particularly high incidence in people aged 16 to 30 years old. And unfortunately, now over the past few days, we’ve begun to see these high cases translate into increasing numbers in hospital and in our intensive care units.’

He added that while more than 60% of the population is now fully vaccinated against Covid-19, there are still more than 2.5 million adults and children ‘who are not fully protected or are not adequately protected through vaccination’.

‘That’s a really big reservoir of people who are still vulnerable to this disease over the weeks to come,’ Dr Glynn said.

The Taoiseach warned yesterday infections would continue to rise over the coming weeks.

Mr Martin said: ‘The situation is

‘If we are brave, we will be in a good space’

serious in respect of Delta and all of us have to be vigilant. We need to keep a close eye on hospitalisation, illness and mortality. This is a further twist in the road of Covid-19. There will be high volumes of case numbers, which will continue to grow.’

However, the Taoiseach stressed the country is now in a different scenario to a year ago, as ‘over 60% of the eligible population is fully vaccinated’.

Mr Martin said he will meet Dr Holohan this week, with Cabinet set to reconvene on Wednesday. He said officials will take a fresh look at where the prevalence is highest and the age cohorts affected and consider the strategies needed to pull infection rates back. And that these factors would be given ‘very serious consideration in… planning for August and September’.

In the meantime, negotiations over plans to fully reopen the hospitality sector are continuing between Government, the Department of Health and industry representatives.

Restaurants Association of Ireland

chief Adrian Cummins told the MoS: ‘The negotiations are intensive and exchanges have been tetchy, but the expectation is that we’ll have a deal on Tuesday.’

Sources said there are concerns over the ongoing failure of the Department of Health to sign off on final guidelines for hospitality. In an indication of the complexity of the issues involved, a ‘spat’ has also broken out over proposals to include food service in shopping centres under the new regulations.

One source said: ‘There is a standoff over whether the indoor dining legislation is applicable to delis.’

However, senior ministers indicated a plan would be agreed in time to allow for the full reopening of the sector from July 26, and that it would not be delayed again by a further spike in Covid cases.

‘We’ve come too far, there’s no turning back’

Junior Minister Niall Collins said: ‘It is in the State and the people’s objective interests that we do not reverse engines now. We’ve come too far – there is no turning back now.’

Another Cabinet source said: ‘We are the only country in Europe who are closed. We are an outlier. It’s vaccine versus variant and it could be a photo-finish.’

However, the Government faces a huge challenge in getting sufficient numbers of young people, described this week as the ‘new vulnerable’ by HSE chief Paul Reid, vaccinated over the next six to eight weeks in

the face of the Delta Covid surge.

From tomorrow, those aged 18-24 can opt in through the portal for an AstraZeneca vaccine. But as mRNA vaccines are the preferred doses for this cohort, they will be given a target date for receiving Pfizer or Moderna if they prefer to wait.

National Director of the Covid Vaccination Programme Damien McCallion said the HSE is very confident in its Pfizer supply and will be able to use some of its buffer stock over the coming weeks to increase vaccination.