Self-isolating means eating Christmas dinner in your bedroom - Dr Colm Henry

Transport Minister Eamon Ryan could not provide details on the number of people who have tested positive for Covid after arriving here from the UK in recent weeks. Picture: Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin

Dr Colm Henry, Chief Clinical Officer with the HSE, said the 14-day isolation advice means that anyone who came to Ireland from Britain from December 11 onwards should self-isolate in their bedroom.

"Self-isolation means staying in your room in so far as possible, except for essential purposes," he said.

"You should stay in your room to ensure you are not the means of transmission of this more transmissible form of the virus within the house."

Asked if it means eating Christmas dinner in their room – Dr Henry told RTÉ's Morning Ireland: "yes, sadly it did mean that."

He said that self-isolating was not novel “in our collective national experience”.

Dr Colm Henry said the 14-day isolation advice means that anyone who came to Ireland from Britain from December 11 onwards should self-isolate in their bedroom.

“It is difficult, it is painful, we have learned to our cost that delay in taking action to prevent spread, the transmission of the virus, we will pay for it if we do so."

Dr Henry added: "We appreciate how inconvenient this is, how painful this must be for people who have waited so long to come home, but we know this is a highly transmissible form of the virus.

"Perhaps it is inevitable that it is here, we must act as if it’s here."

Eamon Ryan: 'Stay in your room' if you have travelled home from Britain

People who travelled home from the UK in the last two weeks must self-isolate in their room on Christmas Day, the Transport Minister has said.

Eamon Ryan has said those who have arrived in Ireland should not have Christmas dinner with their relatives and instead should follow public health advice to isolate for 14 days.

However, Mr Ryan could not provide details on the number of people who have tested positive for Covid after arriving here from the UK in recent weeks.

It comes after the Irish Examiner revealed that more than 20 flights into Ireland from London in the first three weeks of December contained at least one passenger who subsequently tested positive for Covid-19.

A young girl meets family members in Terminal 1 in Dublin Airport this afternoon. Pickups are not being currently allowed inside the terminal due to Covid restrictions. Picture: Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin

Mr Ryan said the Government first became aware of the new strain of the virus in the UK at the weekend.
“We responded absolutely immediately like other European countries, I think we're one of the first to actually react and to stop all travel here for 48 hours to  monitor what's happening.”

Asked if he had figures for the number of people who have come into the country over the last few weeks and have tested positive, Mr Ryan said: “I don't have those figures for you.”

Family members peer through the glass as they wait for loved ones outside Terminal 1 in Dublin Airport this afternoon. Pickups are not being currently allowed inside the terminal due to Covid restrictions. Picture: Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin

But he added that public health officials had provided advice and guidance based on the data they have.

He said the contact tracing form filled out by passengers will now be used to identify around 30,000 who have arrived into the country.

Mr Ryan warned that restrictions will remain in place until we are in a “safer place”.

“I don't think we can give false expectation here that this is just going to be a short three-week period.”

He added: “You do not leave your county after the 26th of December and the guards will be policing that as they've done in previous lockdowns.”

Restrictions needed to give time to roll out Covid vaccine

The transport minister has defended the pace of the vaccination programme and the latest restrictions, saying that the aim was to provide the time to get the vaccine rolled out and in that way to protect the country.

A safe January was “our resolution” Mr Ryan told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland. However, he warned that it would take time to get the vaccine distributed.

Restrictions will stay in place until “we are in a safer place” he added.

“We need to minimise the damage.” 

Mr Ryan said that if numbers associated with the retail sector began to rise then the Government would have to review the situation. 

The Government will continue to monitor and review the situation, but it cannot give “false expectations” that this would be a short three-week period of restrictions, he said. 

“In all likelihood, it will have to keep going until we’re in a safer place.

“Everything we’re doing is on an evidence basis,” he said of the decision to allow non -essential retail remains open. 

“We’re not seeing any indications of transmission from the retail sector.” 

Mr Ryan said that to date the sector had operated in a “very careful manner” and it also provided 40,000 jobs.

There was also no evidence of cases from gyms which were important as they provided people with the ability to maintain their physical and mental health.

However, Mr Ryan said that if numbers associated with the retail sector began to rise then the Government would have to review the situation. 

“We have to heed the public health advice.”