Irish people reduced their travel in view of recent spike in COVID-19

DUBLIN: The Irish citizens have strictly complied with the Government Order to minimise travel as much as possible in the wake of recent surge in COVID-19. Even in the Christmas week, the streets of Ireland were half empty. The government had called on people to limit their social interactions during the Christmas season in view of the increasing number of COVID-19 cases.

A report by Transport Infrastructure Ireland’s (TII) attests to the declining number of vehicles on the roads. According to the report, car traffic between Mulinavat and Waterford area was down 41% from December 16th. The biggest drop (23%) was last Wednesday.

Traffic around Dublin (on the M50) fell by almost a third. M9 in Waterford (41 per cent), Bóthar na dTreabh in Galway (20 per cent), the N40 in Cork (31 per cent) and the M7 in Limerick (33 per cent). This is how other areas experienced a shortage of passengers.

The number of cars crossing the border has also come down drastically compared to last week. The government has decided to ban travelers from the UK following concerns over a new COVID-19 variant found in parts of the UK. Passenger numbers fell 18% on the N13 east of Derry and 6% on the N15 south of Lifford. N1 at Jonesboro had 23% less traffic than the previous week.