'We are moving to a new phase,' says Simon Harris as TDs question private hospital costs in pandemic

Health Minister Simon Harris has told the Dáil we are moving into a “new phase” in the fight against Covid-19 and there would have been 12,300 deaths by last week if infections were not controlled.

But Opposition TDs want secret deals to take over private hospital facilities at a cost of hundreds of millions of euro made public while there are also growing calls to resume health screening services.