Tánaiste: No plan to re-impose restrictions in spite of surge in cases

Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said antigen testing may be rolled out for schools due to the prevalence of the virus in young people, but he insisted schools were safe. Picture: Gareth Chaney/Collins Photos Dublin

The Tánaiste says the Government is not currently planning on re-imposing restrictions on society after a surge in cases.

After Ireland saw the highest number of cases since mid-January on Tuesday, the 11th highest daily figure since the pandemic began, Leo Varadkar said blaming the rise in cases on the reopening of nightclubs 12 days ago was “far too simplistic”.

“I think what we're seeing is very high case numbers but that's not translating into the same level of hospitalisations or need for ICU care or deaths that we would have seen last year,” he said yesterday.

“We do have high case levels, but the vaccine wall is holding. The number of people in hospital is high and the number of people in ICU is high, but it's more or less where we would have expected it to be at this stage given the projection. “

So it's a case of hold firm and stick with the plan.”

The Tánaiste added that antigen testing may be rolled out for schools due to the prevalence of the virus in young people, but he insisted schools were safe.

The significant rise in case numbers mostly happening in primary school children and young people aged between 18 and 24 is not turning into an increase in the number of people in hospital, Mr Varadkar said.

“The advice from Nphet and the CMO is that schools are safe places and that most transmission is happening in homes rather than schools,” he said.

“The issue of extending antigen testing to schools is under consideration.

"Case numbers are high and that is a matter of concern, but 3,000 cases a day, 4,000 cases a day, doesn't mean what it meant last year or last winter and we'll never make a decision just based on case numbers. We'll always have regard to other factors, including the number of people in hospital, the number of people needing ICU care, and that is stable at the moment."

Similarly, Culture Minister Catherine Martin said it would not be right at this time to link rising Covid figures with the reopening of nightclubs.

Ms Martin, who oversaw the reopening of clubs after 20 months, said there was no evidence that the two things were linked.

Speaking in Dublin at an event celebrating the 25th birthday of TG4, Ms Martin said a review of the reopening would take place next week as planned.

"I don't think it would be right to point at one particular sector," she said.

You can see why we put in place the belt and braces approach to get the nightclubs reopened, but also the priority is to protect public health.

"We said there would be a review after three weeks and we will review that and engage and with the sector."

Ms Martin echoed Leo Varadkar in saying the Government does not want to re-impose Covid restrictions.

"We don't want to be putting restrictions in place and that's exactly why we put in the guidelines and regulations in relation to the queuing system and the e-tickets in advance to get them open, we want them to remain open. I suppose nothing is ever certain in Covid but we were expecting the numbers to rise and we have to look at the full scenario."