Hospital admissions due to Covid-19 are continuing to rise, as a further 20 admissions have been seen since yesterday with 221 people currently hospitalised with the disease.
The number represents a 47 per cent increase compared to this day last week and is the highest figure since May.
The latest figures from the HSE show that there are 32 people with the disease in intensive care units.
The numbers follow continuing debate over the possibility of using a “circuit breaker” to curb the spread of the disease, described as a short and strict lockdown, after Tánaiste Leo Varadkar suggested it was being considered.
I think a lot of the messaging, the leaking, the commentary in the media from various different ministers off the record and all of this, it’s all causing great confusion.
Yesterday, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said he was "ruling nothing out" regarding a move to tightened Level 4 or 5 restrictions around the country in the coming week, but insisted that the current Level 3 measures could work.
Mr Martin also questioned the workability of a “circuit breaker” lockdown: “The idea of just locking things down for two weeks and being able to come back as normal, I’m not sure that’s a runner.”
Following uncertainty surrounding the possibility of a “circuit breaker” lockdown, Labour leader Alan Kelly has said that contradictory messaging from Government ministers is causing confusion.
“I think a lot of the messaging, the leaking, the commentary in the media from various different ministers off the record and all of this, it’s all causing great confusion,” he said.
“This isn’t normal politics, this isn’t a normal time for our country, and really we need people to – particularly in Government – behave responsibly.”
Regional restrictions
Government sources have said the next step will be further regional restrictions in locations with increased rates of the disease, such as Donegal, rather than a national lockdown, according to the Irish Times.
Covid-19 case numbers in Dublin and Donegal over the next week will have implications for the rest of the country, according to a Donegal GP.
Dr Denis McCauley said there needs to be an improvement in incidence rates in those two counties, as they have been under Level 3 for a longer period of time than the rest of the country.
“I believe that schools continue, I think we should continue to work, but I think if we want to continue to work and earn money coming up to the Christmas period, the social contact aspect is the part that we have to concentrate on most,” he said.
“I would appeal to everybody, just from a social contact point of view, to not have anybody in to your house at all for the next number of weeks, until we can see if Level 3 is actually working.”
