Nphet unlikely to recommend more Covid restrictions this week as 3,666 cases confirmed
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The Chief Medical Officer does not expect to recommend additional restrictions to Government after Nphet meets on Thursday, opposition TDs have been told.
It comes as a further 3,666 cases of Covid-19 have today been confirmed with 638 Covid-19 patients now hospitalised, of which 130 are in ICU -which is the highest since February.
Yesterday, 684 people were hospitalised with 126 of those being treated in ICU.
Speaking on the latest figures, Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan said the level of worry has increased to levels last seen in April of this year.
“We know what we are asking people to do to help suppress the spread of disease in our communities is very difficult. If we all make a concerted effort it can make a difference," he said.
“Our research tells us that people are listening to the public health advice and are reducing the number of people they are planning to meet, and are cancelling social events, to reduce their contacts.”
CMO Dr Tony Holohan and members of Nphet met with Health and Education spokespeople this afternoon and Dr Holohan told TDs that while Covid cases are rising, he does not expect to call for additional public health measures this week.
He also told TDs that while he is hopeful of keeping the economy open, there can be no guarantees given the current trajectory of the disease. He said that antigen testing would play a role in tackling the pandemic, but warned that the tests were not infallible.
TDs were told that therapeutics such as new anti-viral medications, which could be available as early as January, were showing very promising results and would provide another response to the virus.
The CMO told the opposition education and health spokespeople that the number of unvaccinated young people is a "concern". Those aged 25-29 have just an 80% vaccination rate, the CMO said.
One TD present at the meeting said public health officials explained how they were trying to improve vaccine take-up among this cohort by using the social media platform TikTok
Public health officials also noted that Dublin has a higher proportion of migrant workers who are less likely to be vaccinated.
Opposition TDs were told that it will take two weeks to assess how the latest changes to restrictions will affect the current surge in case numbers and hospitalisations.
"There was nothing new, but we tried to impress on him that there had been serious mixed messaging around Covid and social contacts," the TD added.
Dr Holohan was pressed by the opposition's education spokespeople on contact-tracing within schools and the burden that is being placed on schools. In response, Nphet told TDs that schools were relatively safe.