Covid-19: 'Case for saying that restrictions that are in place, should stay in place'

People shopping on Patrick Street in Cork City. File picture: Denis Scannell

Any public health restrictions put in place now could remain in place for “quite some time”, the Tánaiste has said.

Speaking to Morning Ireland on RTÉ Radio 1, Leo Varadkar said that restrictions are due to be looked at on January 12, but he did not see them easing by then.

With case numbers remaining high, Mr Varadkar said that is unlikely that they will have fallen by a significant amount come January 12.

He said that the availability of the vaccine changes things and that “there is a case for saying that restrictions that are in place, should stay in place”.

He said that also “needs to be reflected in the kind of restrictions that we put in place, because they need to be sustainable for a prolonged period” and not just for three or four weeks.

Mr Varadkar said there was no target on how many people needed to be vaccinated for restrictions to ease.

On St Stephen’s Day, 1,296 cases were confirmed, the highest amount since the outbreak began.

Yesterday, that number fell to 744 confirmed cases but Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan warned that they believe that “due to the lower volume of tests being carried out over Christmas Day and [St Stephen's Day], we believe there are higher levels of disease circulating in the community”.

He warned that Nphet expects “to see a large increase in cases reported over the coming days”.

Restrictions that reduced visits to just one other household are in place until December 31, while from January 1 visits to private homes and gardens are not permitted.

Mr Varadkar said that they expect to see cases rise until early in the New Year.

He said that even though household visits are still allowed until New Year’s Eve, he said that doesn’t mean people have to do it.

Non-essential retail is unlikely to close, as Mr Varadkar said that the modelling showed it did not have a major effect on Covid numbers.

He also confirmed that Nphet had recommended the full Level 5 restrictions.

Mr Varadkar did say that the vaccine rollout signals the beginning of the end of the Covid-19 pandemic but vaccines in themselves will not eliminate the virus.

He said that vaccines, which are due to be rolled out from tomorrow, will allow the country to “get on top of the virus and make it a normal virus” like the other ones “we deal with all the time”.

He said that the initial rollout will be slow as the supply as the vaccine is limited.

Mr Varadkar said that there will be around 40,000 doses a week coming into the country through January.

The Tánaiste also defended the rate at which the Covid-19 vaccination programme will commence in Ireland in comparison with some other European countries.

The pace at which the vaccination programme will be rolled out is because of issues such as training for vaccinators and informed consent, he added. 

Medical experts had advised that the programme should commence in acute hospitals so there would be full back up if anything were to happen. There had been some cases of anaphylactic reaction in other countries, he said.

When asked if the issue of litigation had been a concern, Mr Varadkar said that was always the case in Ireland with “anything to do with any kind of medical care”. 

There had been “heightened concern” about litigation and the necessity “to make sure everything is right.”