'Choose your friends wisely': Health chiefs warn people in Limerick and Dublin to reduce contacts

Dr. Abigail Collins, Consultant in Public Health Medicine, HSE; Dr. Ronan Glynn, Acting Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health; and Rachel Kenna, Chief Nursing Officer, Department of Health as they arrived for the Covid-19 update from the Department of Health in Dublin today. Photo: Sasko Lazarov/Rollingnews.ie

People need to plan ahead for a Covid-19 Christmas and Halloween by "choosing their friends wisely", public health chiefs have urged.

Speaking at the latest Department of Health briefing, health experts also warned that people in Dublin and Limerick need to improve their social distancing to help avoid a further spike in cases.

The next seven days are vital, the country was told, with numbers continuing to increase, bringing the prospect of a further tightening of restrictions. 

However, officials stopped short of saying the country or parts of the country face a lockdown.

Dr Ronan Glynn, Acting Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health, denied social media reports he or his staff were planning to tell people how to safely trick or treat this coming Halloween.

He said: “Let there be no possibility of a message going out that NPHET [the National Public Health Emergency Team] has said anything about cancelling Halloween or Christmas or anything like that.

"We haven't given specific consideration.

“I have seen on social media that it is only just a matter of time before we tell people how to trick or treat.

“I am sure as it comes closer to the time, we can give some specific messages to help people socialise and do things safely around that time

“But it always comes back to the key message that the single predictor of how safe or otherwise it will be to participate in activities at Halloween or Christmas or any other time is the underlying circulating levels of the virus.

“At the moment they are increasing and we need to get them to decrease particularly in the capital and in Limerick.”

Dr Ronan Glynn. File picture: Gareth Chaney/Collins

Professor Pete Lunn, head of the Esri's Behavioural Research Unit, said people need to plan to make sure they have enough good, warm, clothing this winter.

This is because people are going to need to plan for the importance of social interactions outdoors.

He said people will need to “focus on the highest quality friendships”.

There were no new deaths reported to the Health Protection Surveillance Centre but a further 102 new cases of Covid-19 were confirmed.

Of the new cases, 45 are men, 57 are women, and most — 75% — of them are under 45 years of age.

Dr Glynn said the country’s 14-day incidence rate per 100,000 of the population is now 35, with most — 791 — of cases over the past two weeks being in Dublin.

He said: “We are monitoring with growing concern the number of cases nationally, particularly in Limerick and Dublin.

“The next seven days are vital; everyone needs to reduce their contacts and assume any person you do meet may be carrying the virus.”

Asked about travelling abroad, he said it was impossible to rely on virus information always being available while travelling — something he said remains a “high-risk pursuit”.

Meanwhile, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said the Government is now "giving consideration" to changing rules around international travel.

He said he welcomed the announcement by EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen around an EU wide travel approach with green, amber, and red areas.

"That's going to be part of our considerations as we develop a plan," said Mr Varadkar.