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A Monaghan GP has called for the Government to consider a two-week ‘circuit breaker’ lockdown to halt the spread of Covid-19 which is now “out of control”.
Dr Illona Duffy said her practice had noticed an increase in the levels of calls from symptomatic patients in recent days, a few of whom were “quite sick”.
The age demographic of patients was much wider this time when compared with the first wave back in the Spring, Dr Duffy told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland on Wednesday.
This time it was “pan generational” from babies to adults, to older people, she added.
The Cabinet will meet on Wednesday to decide whether to move the country to full Level 5 restrictions with Taoiseach Micheál Martin due to address the country later in the day.
Unscheduled meeting
The unscheduled meeting comes after the State reported its highest number of daily Covid-19 cases (1,546) on Tuesday, since the start of the pandemic.
Minister for Public Expenditure Michael McGrath said that we are living in tumultuous times and that the Government will have to respond to the situation of growing Covid-19 numbers.
He said the Cabinet meeting will take advice from Nphet and the removal of the amendments to Level 5 will have to be considered.
A decision will be made on Wednesday afternoon and it will immediately be conveyed to the public, Mr McGrath told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland.
However, he warned that while the arrival of the vaccine was positive, the last part of the journey could be “the most treacherous.” “We are at a very serious juncture,” he said.
Mr McGrath said the Cabinet will have to make a decision on Wednesday afternoon which will have an impact on livelihoods (in the non-essential retail and leisure sectors) and there was deep concern about that, but the first responsibility of Government was to protect its people.
Increasing cases
Mr McGrath said he did not want to scare people about the ability of the health system to cope with increasing Covid-19 cases.
“The best thing all of us can do is to follow the rules and get this under control,” he said. “It is within our gift to get this under control.”
The Minister also acknowledged the work of teachers and SNAs, but said that the intention was that schools would reopen next week as planned.
Dr Ronan Glynn, the deputy chief medical officer, said while the start of the Covid-19 vaccination programme is “a very significant positive milestone”, vaccines will not “positively impact” on the profile of the virus in Ireland in the coming weeks.
“Tonight, there are more people in hospital with #COVID19 (411) than at any point since last May and admissions are rising very quickly,” Dr Glynn said on Twitter on Tuesday.
He urged the public to stay at home, not to meet up with others, not to go to work if you have any “concerning symptoms” and if you are identified as a close contact to restrict your movements and get tested when it is offered.