Irish Examiner View: We must take CMO’s advice seriously to prevent Covid chaos

With hospitalisation figures on the rise, including those in intensive care units, this is not a time to be blasé about the dangers of Covid-19.

Chief Medical Officer Professor Breda Smyth has advised mask-wearing on all public transport and a return to the vigorous hand hygiene regime. Picture: Gareth Chaney/ Collins Photos

It might seem a lifetime ago, but the date February 29, 2020, was a very significant one for this country.

That was the day when the first case of Covid-19 was diagnosed in this country. What was to follow was something few could have predicted as Ireland — and large tracts of the world as a whole — was thrown into a hitherto inconceivable lockdown which was to change our lives and the way we live.