Donohoe: Cabinet likely to sign off on further Covid restrictions

The finance minister said given the threat posed by the Omicron variant, there is a need to “go further” than the Government had previously thought necessary to contain the spread of the virus

Mr Donohoe said the Cabinet will move quickly to make any decisions necessary in order to minimise uncertainty and speculation as to what is likely to be proposed.

Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe has said further Covid-19 restrictions are likely and suggested that an emergency Cabinet meeting on Friday will sign off on them.

Speaking this lunchtime, Mr Donohoe said given the threat posed by the Omicron variant, there is a need to “go further” than the Government had previously thought necessary in order to contain the spread of the coronavirus.

Mr Donohoe said the Cabinet will move quickly to make any decisions necessary in order to minimise uncertainty and speculation as to what is likely to be proposed.

The National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) is meeting this afternoon to consider its latest recommendations to the Government on how best to limit Covid-19 transmission over the Christmas period.

Government sources have indicated that there will be further tightening of restrictions in areas such as social mixing, limiting social contacts as well as a further limiting on indoor gatherings.

There is some speculation that the application of restrictions on international travel will be eased as the Omicron variant is already present in Ireland and is likely to be the dominant strain by next week.

Government sources have indicated that there will be further tightening of restrictions in areas such as social mixing, limiting social contacts as well as a further limiting on indoor gatherings.

Speaking in Brussels, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said the EU Council Summit will be dominated by the collective response to Omicron with calls for stronger co-ordination around Europe to tackle the new variant.

"There's a general desire, even from my meetings this morning among prime ministers for stronger and greater co-ordination around the administration of the booster vaccine, the scientific evidence underpinning in terms of the interval period and also the digital certificate, in terms of co-ordinating all of that over the next while," he said.

Indications were that there would be better scientific data in respect of Omicron in the coming weeks, in terms not just of its transmissibility, but its severity, he said.

Severity

Mr Martin said the question of its severity is "a key question."

On Nphet, Mr Martin said: "They will make the recommendations. Suffice to say they are very concerned ... at how fast this variant spreads."

Ireland's strength would be the high participation in the first and second doses of the vaccine, he stressed.

"You add the booster and you're in a strong position to deal with this," he said.

Likely recommendations

Government sources say that they are expecting Nphet to make some suggestions that socialisation be restricted ahead of Christmas, but they remain staunchly opposed to closing schools.

Restrictions could be recommended on social contacts and the rules around those identified as close contacts of positive cases, though tighter rules around international travel are not expected.

Close contacts of confirmed Covid-19 cases may have to restrict their movements and stay at home over Christmas, under new measures to be considered by Nphet when it meets.

Currently, people do not have to restrict their movements if they are a non-household close contact and are fully vaccinated.

The Taoiseach said that there was a "significant wave" of Covid coming due to the variant.

“We’ve learned a lot from this pandemic, we’re in a very different phase, a very significant wave coming. I think we have to be intelligent in terms of how we combat that," Micheál Martin said.

“Suffice to say, (Nphet) is very concerned. Public health officials across Europe, across Ireland, are very concerned at how fast this variant spreads, that’s the big issue for them."

Mr Martin said that he was "hopeful" of new antiviral drugs to treat the virus in 2022 and that these "will be a significant help in terms of prevention of severe illness".

Today's meeting comes against the backdrop of rising Covid cases throughout Europe, with cases in the UK hitting a record 78,610 yesterday. Denmark and Norway have also brought in stricter rules in the wake of the arrival of the Omicron variant in both countries.

The Taoiseach said that leaders would "endeavour to coordinate" on international travel as much as possible today.

Last night, Health Minister Stephen Donnelly warned that Covid hospitalisations could match or even exceed the spike seen last January as Omicron becomes the dominant variant here.

Yesterday, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said Nphet will likely include measures aimed at trying to decrease the amount of social mixing, as well as possible new measures around international travel.

He said: "I would expect more recommendations around the management of close contacts, recommendations to decrease the amount of social mixing, and recommendations around international travel."

The Tánaiste said he's not going to speculate on the exact nature of any specific recommendations, such as whether there'd be earlier closing times for hospitality.