WE’RE WORST IN T ORLD
Taoisheach note aws ‘ ashame d’ shocking milestone is reached € 100 on- the- spot fines after infection rate soars in past week
IRELAND’S Covid- 19 infection rate has rocketed to the highest on the planet.
The grim milestone comes after more than 45,700 cases were recorded last week, with 10,100 positive tests per million people in the past seven days.
But as health experts warned of a “national emergency”, Micheal Martin said he was “not ashamed”.
Meanwhile, gardai will now be issuing €100 on-the-spot fines to those breaching Covid restrictions.
IRELAND has the highest daily rate of Covid- 19 infection in the world as health experts warned our hospitals face a “national emergency”.
The Government said the worst is yet to come, while an ICU consultant added the country is facing horrific scenes witnessed in Italy last year.
Tanaiste Leo Varadkar added the HSE is set to experience it’s “darkest” month and the weeks ahead will be a very “rocky period”.
But yesterday Tao is each Micheal Martin again defended the Government’s response to the virus before Christmas and rejected it was to blame for the surge in infections as an Opposition TD blasted the coalition’s “self- serving nonsense”.
In the past week, Ireland has had 10,100 confirmed cases of coronavirus per million people, according to data from the Johns Hopkins University in the US.
And now the country’s seven- day Covid- 19 rate is the worst in the world after the post- Christmas spike.
Pressure has intensified on hospitals as sick corona virus
patients entering ICU continue to rise. Transmission of the bug is impacting around 3,500 healthcare staff who are said to be unavailable to work due to the pandemic.
HSE boss Paul Reid last night issued a stark message and said the situation in our hospitals is “now beyond strain”.
The President of the Irish Hospital Consultants’ Association Professor Alan Irvine added the current situation in Ireland’s hospitals “is truly a national emergency.”
He said: “The acute hospital system is under the greatest pressure that it’s ever been in living memory.”
Professor Irvine told RTE if hospital admissions continue to double in a week and double again the week after that, “the system really will not be able to cope, so it’s truly an emergency in the acute health system.”
Mr Martin said he was told by Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan that the UK variant of Covid- 19 which is more infectious has accounted for almost half of the most recent positive samples. But he rejected that the
The system will not be able to cope, it’s an emergency PROF ALAN IRVINE ON RISING NUMBERS
Government’s decision making was to blame for the out- of- control spread of the disease.
He told New stalk’ s Pat Kenny it was an “unfair presentation and assertion” to suggest the Government should feel ashamed for their response to the disease before Christmas and stat ed he doesn’t believe mixed messages were given to the public. Mr Martin said there was a “perfect storm” which led to the spike in infections due to so ci ali sing at Christmas, the new UK variant and potential seasonal factors.
He added he believes the
RESPONSE
Mr Martin
Government has “always responded effectively to the latest wave and to the latest surge of this virus”.
Mr Martin said: “Of course we accept our responsibilities. But we have acted at all times, I think, effectively in responding to the various waves that have emerged. “We’ re doing that very resolutely and very firmly and very clearly, with our public health colleagues, and with all of those on the frontline. Over time, people can reflect on this and make their observations and conclusions.”
However, People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett said it was “self- serving nonsense on the part of the Government”.
He added “they ignored” NPHET’S advice and “opened up much too early under pressure from certain businesses ,” which has led to a “terrifying situation in our hospitals.”
Mr Boyd Barrett told the Irish Mirror Mr Martin“dismissed warnings” by NPHET and we are now “paying a very bitter price for that.”
He said: “It blows out of the water the sort of stuff that you have to balance the economy against public health concerns, the truth is you allow the public health to deteriorate, you do more damage to the economy and we’re seeing that now. It came as Mr Varadkar warned “it ’s going to be worse” than the first wave of the pandemic.
He said the country is facing another two months of current restrictions and he envisages “very minor” relaxation of measures but businesses, hairdressers, restaurants and pubs are likely to remain shut until the end of March.
The Tanaiste added he wants this to be the last lockdown. Last night Health Minister Stephen Donnelly refused to accept any responsibility for the current situation facing hospitals nationwide.
He denied the Government went against public health advice.
Mr Donnelly told Virgin Media News it has been following “public health advice from day one”.
And World Health Organisation medic Mike Ryan told reporters he had spoken to Dr Holohan yesterday.
The Mayo man said: “My own country in Ireland . . . has suffered one of the most acute increases in disease incidence of any country in the world.
“And not due to the variant let me add , but due to i ncreased social mixing and reduction of physical distancing.”
Dr Andrew Westbrook, an ICU Consultant in St Vincent’s Hospital, said the health system i s about to enter a phase “the likes of which we have never seen before in Ireland”.
And he told RTE’S Claire Byrne Show Ireland could be facing scenes like those seen in Lombardy in Italy and New York last year.
Dr Westbrook said if the volume of people presenting to hospitals c ontinues t hen “t here wil l be a tsunami of patients presenting to intensive care.