Fears of a Christmas lockdown are growing as Ireland records the third consecutive day of Covid cases over 3,000.
Taoiseach Micheal Martin said the government is ‘concerned about the rise in Covid cases and that the country would be in another lockdown had it not been for the vaccine.
However, things remains classified about how Ireland aims to tackle the growing number of cases.
When asked by reporters about the possibility of another lockdown, the Taoiseach said there is “little point of speculating”.
Public health officials were notified of a further 3,024 confirmed cases of Covid-19, with 458 people in hospital, 90 of whom are in ICU.
The National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) said 56 deaths were recorded over the past week bringing Ireland’s total Covid deaths to 5,492.
The Taoiseach said the government would be keeping a close eye on the situation but was reluctant to say if restrictions would be reintroduced.
He said: “what is worrying” is that across Europe, “we are looking at a wave in respect of Covid-19 and the incidence of cases.”
However, Tanaiste Leo Varadkar has said the government would never reimpose Covid restrictions based on case numbers alone.
He said: “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 protections, so it’s a case of hold firm and stick with the plan.”
Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan has urged people to continue to implement public health measures such as washing their hands, using sanitiser and wearing a face mask.
Speaking at a press conference, he said people should scale back the number of people they see or limit their movements by avoiding vulnerable people after attending large gatherings.
He said: “That will mean cutting contacts. Perhaps not what people want to hear. It’s not something I want to be telling people.”
Dr Holohan encouraged people to “ration the kinds of discretionary activity you might undertake.”
Adding: “If we can have most of the people observing most of the measures most of the time, that will make a huge difference.”