Government leaders will today discuss extending Level Five coronavirus restrictions for another month.
This Cabinet Sub-committee on COVID-19 will also consider new restrictions on international travel – including plans for a five-day mandatory quarantine for people arriving into the country without a negative PCR test.
The committee is also considering tighter checks on people travelling across the border from the North.
Officials are continuing to discuss the possibility of a ‘two-islands’ approach to international travel with the UK.
Last night, officials announced 23 further virus-related deaths and 1,378 new cases – the second day in a row the daily case figure was below 2,000.
Work
Dr Mary Favier, NPHET member and COVID-19 advisor to the Irish College of General Practitioners said too many people are still going to work.
She said employees who are being told to come in should group together.
“I would suggest they try to talk to their other colleagues and approach it as a group,” she said. “Talk to their line-manager and approach it as group.
“Ideally, they would have a union and if they are not in one, consider joining one.
“This needs to be a negotiation but there are very few employments where people can’t work creatively at home.
“That is a really important principle. We did it back in March and we know the difference now in terms of the amount of mobility data.
“People are moving around a lot more and that is because they are being expected to go into work.
“We have to stop that. It is a cooperative effort between employers and employees but it has to be done.”
Hospital
Yesterday afternoon, there were 1,931 COVID-19 patients in in Irish hospitals, with 218 in intensive care.
Dr Favier said everyone needs to double down on the guidelines.
“The numbers continue to climb in hospitals – it is very difficult for them
“The numbers continue to climb in intensive care units and that is to be expected because somebody admitted to hospital today reflects somebody that was infected two weeks ago as a general rule.
“We really need to keep going. We really need to try and reduce the numbers.”
Any decisions made the Cabinet sub-Committee today will be rubber -stamped at a full Cabinet meeting tomorrow.
