NPHET meeting brought forward as the Government is about to make announcements regarding ‘Level 5’ exit

The Government is about to make relevant and crucial announcements about the end of the present lockdown and lifting of Level 5 restrictions. The announcements are expected to come on Thursday or Friday.

Due to this the NPHET meeting was brought forward. Ireland is all set to come out of level 5 on December 1, but there are still confusions regarding the placement of restrictions and regarding which level will be imposed next.

Usually, the NPHET meetings happens on Thursdays and the main objective of this meeting is to discuss about Ireland’s Covid-19 situation, but public health meeting will now happen on Wednesday.

This meeting will be followed by a meeting of the Cabinet COVID-19 sub-committee, before a full Cabinet meeting takes place to discuss and make the final decision about what post Level 5 will look like.

According to the reports, announcements regarding the lockdown exit could be made on Thursday or Friday. All coalition leaders are happy to see Ireland coming out of Level 5, but details on how that will look are still to be decided.

As previously decided, Ireland might go back to Level 3 right after the upliftment of Level 5 and this will keep a number of restrictions still active.

Taoiseach Micheal Martin said that NPHET will not make the decision to leave lockdown, but will only offer its advice.

“What has emerged the restriction of visitors to households seems to have had an impact so we need to bear that in mind as we move through December.” Martin said