'Unpopular decisions' likely in effort to control Covid-19
The Government is expected to announce more "unpopular decisions" as it struggles to keep Covid-19 under control ahead of schools reopening.
It comes as the Health Protection Surveillance Centre confirmed another 56 cases, bringing the total to 27,313. To date, 1,774 Covid-related deaths have been reported.
Of the new cases, 35 are linked to outbreaks or are close contacts of a confirmed case, while 12 have been identified as community transmission.
With the focus now on all schools opening their doors from next week, the Cabinet sub-committee on Covid-19 will meet on Tuesday to discuss the next steps based on public health advice.
Publicans fear that the Government could be forced to again push out the deadline for the reopening of all pubs from August 31. An update on overseas travel advice is also expected.
It is understood the Cabinet will also publish an expert report on nursing homes which will contain 86 recommendations.
Health Minister Stephen Donnelly said the next three weeks will be “incredibly important” after more than 1,100 new cases were reported in the last two weeks, and a spike in deaths may be imminent.
“If you look at the daily number of cases, it is going up... the sad reality, there can be a time lag between cases and hospitalisations," said Mr Donnelly.
Last evening's Covid-19 press briefing was postponed as the National Public Health Emergency Team prepared a number of recommendations on how best to tackle the virus.
Mr Donnelly said the Government will follow the public health advice "very closely", and it is expected that more difficult decisions will have to be made as the country prepares to send children back to school in the coming weeks.
"There has been a lot of talk about restrictions on virus hotspots and how we would roll out testing at airports and how those things could be implemented," said a senior government source.
"There will be a strong focus on the 200 cases from last week that we saw in one day, 200 cases is a cause of concern, so Cabinet needs to look at where they're coming from, whether they are community or localised, that's the main focus."
The sub-committee usually looks back at the 14-day rates per 100,000 as a trend-based analysis; however, it is understood it will focus on the 200 cases in one day recorded last Saturday.
Mr Donnelly has called for “the same intensity of focus” that there was in the early months of living with the virus.
“We’ve got to listen to the doctors,” said Mr Donnelly. "All across Europe, what we saw was we saw a very successful suppression of the virus and as governments, including Ireland's, as we relaxed those restrictions and probably as we all began to normalise, maybe a bit of fatigue crept in.
"Now, in Ireland, what's really concerning the public health doctors is that it's popping up all around the country. So in the last two weeks, for example, there's been new cases in every single county.
"We're learning about this virus all the time."
It is understood there has been no conversation about extending restrictions to other counties and the plan is for restrictions in Laois, Offaly, and Kildare to be lifted at midnight on Sunday.
“That’s still the plan," said Mr Donnelly. "My hope is this, as of midnight this Sunday that those restrictions will be relaxed."
Meanwhile, Dr Gabriel Scally has said that schools should consider keeping windows open and getting students to wear their coats in class to suppress the spread of Covid-19.
“Getting the air moving could be the best thing to do,” said Dr Scally.