Covid-19: ‘Not possible’ to predict Christmas travel arrangements, CMO warns
Dr Tony Holohan Chief Medical Officer attending a Committee Meeting on Transport & Communications Networks on Issues affecting the aviation sector in Ireland at Leinster House on Kildare Street, Dublin.
It is “not possible” to predict what travel arrangements will be in place by Christmas or if people will be able to fly home from countries with high Covid-19 infection rates, the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) has said.
Dr Tony Holohan was responding to questions at the Oireachtas Transport Committee on Tuesday, where several members sought clarification on international travel and Covid-testing at airports among a range of issues.
The CMO reiterated the National Public Health Emergency Team’s (Nphet) current position that non-essential international travel is “not safe” at present.
Travel accounted for around one-quarter of Covid-19 cases during the summer months, he said, although imported cases had reduced considerably since restrictions were put in place.
The relevant government departments, the CMO said, were “working through” what systems could be put in place in line with the EU-wide traffic light system that is due to roll out from next Sunday.
Covid-19 infection rates, however, were rising across Europe and the US, which were classified as ‘red’ travel zones, he said:
“The vast majority of countries are red, and getting redder," he said.
Nphet has recommended that rapid antigen tests are not suitable for screening passengers arriving into the country. While the CMO said testing “potentially” had a role to play at airports he said there were also risks that a negative test would give people a “licence” to no longer follow public health guidance.
The expert view, Dr Holohan said, was for passengers to restrict their movements for a 5 to 7 day period, with a symptom check and test on day five. Even if this was put in place, it could miss up to 15% of imported cases, he added.
Anyone travelling into the country should restrict their movements for 14 days and follow public health guidance, he said.
Asked by committee chair Kieran O’Donnell if people could travel home from red and orange countries for Christmas, the CMO said it was not possible to predict where the country would be in six weeks time.
“It’s a hypothetical question still because the advice that has to pertain in relation to travel in the second half of December, the period you’re asking me about, relates to a whole lot of factors that are simply unknowable at this point in time,” Dr Holohan said.
Nphet was "optimistic" that it will be able to recommend a change in December, he said, adding it was “not an inevitable” that the country would return to Level 5 restrictions in the new year and that a vaccine could change how we live with the virus.
Director of the National Virus Reference Laboratory, Dr Cillian De Gascun cautioned, however, that Covid-19 would not be eradicated anytime soon.
“Unfortunately we can’t pin our hopes on a vaccine. The chances of it being 100% effective, the chances of it being taken up by 100% of the population, the chances of it being eradicated in the near future are very unlikely. This virus is likely to become endemic in the population,” he said, adding that existing public health restrictions will remain “incredibly important” into the future.
