Level five restrictions in Ireland will continue until the first week of December

DUBLIN: The government has indicated that Ireland’s return from the Level 5 restrictions would only take place after six weeks. The government believes that the situation would worsen if it agrees the need to loosen the restrictions, considering the slight decline in the spread of the virus.

Health Minister Stephen Donnelly also shares the belief that the level-5 restrictions could be lifted in the first week of December. Minister said the removal of restrictions in the early months of the New Year and Christmas would be of great benefit to businesses, including retailers.

Due to the two-week restrictions, the reproductive number (R-number) of the corona virus is between 0.7 and 0.9. This is a good sign, but the R-number still needs to go down. Restrictions in the first week of December can be level two or three. No decision has yet been made on this. Decisions will be also taken on a local basis in this regard.

The Government will then consider if NPHET recommends that the level 5 restrictions be relaxed before the deadline. Minister Donnelly it was worrying to see more cases in the north of Ireland.

Finance Paschal Donohoe said the R rate must be below 1% to ease restrictions. Minister Donohoe said the R-number will continue to be monitored and evaluated.

“It is so important that the R number has moved below one. We need to see it stay below one, and the continued stability of the disease at low level of transmission,” he said. Donohoe said that the government would only take decisions that would not harm the life and health of the people of Ireland.

Chief Medical Officer Dr. Tony Holohan urged that those closely associated with confirmed COVID-19 cases should stay at home for a complete 14 days.

New figures from the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) indicate that 480 new outbreaks have occurred in the last week compared to 680 in the previous week.

Infections are more common in homes and schools

Most new infections are reported in private houses, with 320 of these reported. Currently, a total of 4,815 households are affected. But the number of outbreaks in private homes is reducing. Infections are also more common in schools. There were 30 new outbreaks, bringing the total to 156.

There are 16 cases in residential institutions and eight in nursing homes. New outbreaks have been reported in 11 workplaces, including fish and meat processing plants. There were three outbreaks in the Traveller community last week. One was in the Direct Provision Center and one was in a prison. The total number of outbreaks in prisons has risen to seven.

With 591 new COVID-19 cases reported in the country, the total number of cases has risen to 64,046. Three further deaths have also been confirmed. This brings the total death toll in Ireland to 1,933. The number of patients in the intensive care unit is 38.

Northern Ireland

A further 12 coronavirus deaths have been confirmed in Northern Ireland. Of these, 8 were within the last 24 hours. The total death toll here is 752. Of the 2,741 tests, 516 new cases were confirmed positive.

Currently, 409 COVID-19 patients are hospitalized, with 49 in ICU and 42 of them are on ventilators.