Schools shut for two weeks and home working encouraged in Irish lockdown

Schools, colleges and childcare centres in Ireland are to close for two weeks in an unprecedented lockdown sparked by the outbreak of coronavirus.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar also said large indoor and outdoor gatherings should be cancelled, while the country’s army is ready to respond to requests for emergency help.

Home working is encouraged and socialising should be limited, official advice said.

The advice adds that break times in workplaces must be staggered to reduce the infection’s spread and meetings should be held remotely. Government plans aim to ensure the food supply chain remains uninterrupted and shops are to stay open.

Restaurants, cafes and other businesses can continue trading, but should look at ways to implement public health advice recommending social distancing.

Mr Varadkar said: “We have not witnessed a pandemic of this nature in living memory. This is unchartered territory.”

Ireland recorded its first death from Covid-19 this week involving an elderly woman being treated in a Dublin hospital. By Wednesday night, the country had 43 cases. There were 27 new cases announced yesterday. A letter from Dr Tony Holohan, Ireland’s chief medical officer, to the government said the number of cases detected had significantly increased in recent days. It noted a number of intensive care unit hospital admissions.

The death, clusters of infection including at two hospitals and community transmission were other factors behind the advice.

Cultural institutions like museums and tourist sites will close in an effort to limit spread of the virus. All indoor gatherings of more than 100 people and outdoor events involving more than 500 should be cancelled, the Irish government said.