ON THE BRINK OF LOCKDOWN

Anger in Cabinet as NPHET recommends moving to Level 5

THE entire country must go into the strictest possible lockdown, NPHET has warned the Government as Covid-19 spirals beyond all control.

This means only essentials shops will be left opened, everyone limited to travelling as little as 5km from home and an end even to the restricted visits to family and loved ones that are allowed now.

However, the call from the State’s medical experts has alarmed Cabinet members who fear there will be ‘widespread panic buying’.

Ministers were furious that news of the latest restrictions advice was released before they discussed it and said there should have been a Cabinet meeting last night.

The new lockdown plan, which would put us under the strictest Covid rules in Europe, would shut down thousands of hairdressers, clothes shops and other retailers around the country. However, the National Public Health

Emergency Team has insisted the country has to go to Level 5 of the Covid programme, to slow the spread of the virus and prevent hospitals being overwhelmed.

The experts made their call after a meeting that lasted several hours last night. Level 5 means:

■ Staying at home except to exercise within 5km of where we live;

■ No gatherings other than attending funerals or weddings;

■ Attendance at a weddings remains at six guests;

■ Attendance at funerals reduced to ten mourners;

■ Wet pubs can only offer takeaway or delivery service;

■ However, schools, creches and universities will remain open;

With 1,447 new coronavirus cases at the weekend, and 11 deaths, NPHET says only the drastic new restrictions to stop the surge.

Saturday’s coronavirus figures were the worst seen since the height of the first wave, last April, and the sixth worse since the pandemic began.

The r e c o mmendation was confirmed to the Irish Daily Mail last night by a very well informed

Government source and yesterday, the Public Finance minister, Public Expenditure Minister Michael McGrath warned the public that the Government must act swiftly on any new NPHET advice, because of ‘deeply concerning’ Covid numbers, which were ‘not sustainable’.

He said: ‘It is very difficult and tough on people. But as a Government we have to stand ready. If we receive further recommendations from NPHET, then we will be examining those swiftly,’ he told RTÉ Radio 1’s This Week programme.

Minister McGrath said that while he wished extra restrictions weren’t necessary, he had to be honest.

‘I think we have to be straight with people. The numbers are deeply concerning and the current trend that we are witnessing is not sustainable,’ he said.

‘I know that people are weary. We are all weary. Everyone has paid a price in terms of their own personal liberty. Many have paid a very significant economic price because of the restrictions that we have had to impose, and the overall economic impact of Covid-19.

‘But we need to get on top of this and we need to do more. We all need to ask ourselves what more can we do to adhere to the public health advice, which we all know at this stage,’ he said.

The newly returned Chief Medical Officer, Dr Tony Holohan, who heads the NPHET team, sent a letter with the recommendations to the Government last night.

The Cabinet will meet today to discuss them but it i s highly unlikely they will go against the NPHET team.

Dublin and Donegal are already at Level 3, in which nobody is supposed to leave the county and restaurants are greatly restricted, while the rest of the country is on the more relaxed Level 2.

Yesterday, 364 new cases were confirmed and there are now 134 cases in our hospitals, the highest since the end of June.

Leading health expert, Professor of Public Health in DCU Anthony Staines told the Mail last night that drastic action is needed to kill off the coronavirus.

He said: ‘[Green party leader] Eamon Ryan was saying that we can’t eliminate the virus, with great respect to Eamon Ryan that is my job. The people I work with have experience eliminating viruses. Yes we can eliminate the virus but we have to decide if we want to.

‘We want to bring the virus right down, there’s no disagreement about that. The question comes when we get it down to keep on going.’ Prof. Staines said that the health modelling he and others have done suggests that we could get to zero cases by Christmas.

‘It would involve putting the whole country under significant restrictions straight away and managing those restrictions county by county. In some counties that would have been very quick. In other cases, Dublin would be one, it would be a lot longer.

‘You manage the restrictions, you get the local public health people to lead on it, because they know the territory. You got the local authorities to lead, because they know what’s going on,’ he said, adding that more resources would need to be put into the Test, Track and Trace Systems. He also said he

Covid numbers ‘are not sustainable’ ‘We can get to zero by Christmas’

was ‘ shocked’ by the 613 cases reported here Saturday ‘but we could easily have had 1,800,’ considering Northern Ireland had over 900 cases on Friday.

The surge has ended any hope that Dublin might come down to Level 2, allowing pubs to open and allowing the public to leave the county. The situation is just as bleak in Donegal, where a huge surge in neighbouring Strabane have led to localised restrictions.

Of yesterday’s 364 cases, 74% were people under 45 years of age and 27% were from outbreaks or close contacts with a confirmed cases, while 42 were from community transmission.

They show a wider distribution across the country, with l ess concentration in Dublin.

Yesterday’s cases included 100 in Dublin, 55 in Cork, 31 in Donegal, 24 in Limerick, 23 in Galway, 17 in Clare, 14 in Sligo, 13 in Roscommon, ten in Kerry, eight in Tipperary, eight in Wicklow, seven in Kildare, six in Kilkenny, six in Offaly, five in Cavan, five in Mayo, five in Meath, with the remaining 27 cases in nine counties. NPHET had warned that the coronavirus would spread out from Dublin if the numbers had remained high.

Transport Minister Eamon Ryan said earlier yesterday, before the NPHET meeting, that the Government was committed to keeping schools open if Ireland went to Level 4. It has always been part of the Government’s five-level Covid

programme that schools would remain open at Level 4.

‘Yes the Government i s very committed to seeing the schools remain open. We are not seeing huge instances because of the schools coming back,’ the Green Party leader said.

‘The international evidence is that it can be done safely, our schools have done a good job,’ Mr Ryan said. ‘The health damage done if we weren’t able to have our children go to school would outweigh the benefits of closing them so we will keep them open,’ he told RTÉ TV’s The Week In Politics.