Experts have warned the Government should prepare a “plan B” of tighter Covid-19 restrictions before Christmas, to prevent hospitals being overrun amid fears of the impact of the Omicron wave.
With the variant now the dominant one in the State, The Irish Times reports that specialists from the fields of public health, medicine and science have expressed concerns about the impact on the healthcare system from a predicted increase in cases.
On Sunday, the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) confirmed the new variant had been detected in 52 per cent of reported cases, with it taking less than two weeks for Omicron to become dominant over Delta.
A public health professor at the Royal College of Surgeons, Ruairí Brugha, said that lockdown measures would need to start before Christmas to “flatten the curve” of approaching cases and relieve health workers.
These lockdown measures, including pub and restaurant closures and the cancellation of public events, would need to last four to eight weeks, he said.
‘Emergency-brake situation’
Meanwhile Professor Anthony Staines, head of health systems at Dublin City University, said the country was in an “emergency-brake situation” requiring an eight-week lockdown to reduce infections.
“There is no good way out of this,” he said.
Dr Catherine Motherway, head of University Hospital Limerick’s intensive care unit, raised fears that if the new variant was milder but infected more people, it could put the same pressure on the health system.
Hospitals in Ireland are already treating Covid-19 patients in one third of their ICU beds.
“If we cannot control it by this particular set of restrictions, I would hope that our politicians will make hard and unpopular decisions,” she said.
Dublin-based GP Ray Walley, associate professor of general practice at UCD, said the current restrictions were “appropriate” but that the Government should be ready to react “very quickly” before Christmas if needed to avoid the health system being “more over-burdened”.
Restrictions?
It comes as new Covid-19 restrictions came into force on Monday, including an 8pm curfew for pubs, restaurants and other indoor public settings.
However, the possibility of additional restrictions has been dismissed as "entirely speculative" by chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan.
It is understood that Dr Holohan and Taoiseach Micheál Martin spoke on Sunday morning. A spokesperson for Mr Martin said: "There are no plans for a December 30th meeting, no nuclear buttons.”
The Omicron strain of Covid-19 is now dominant in Ireland as public health officials confirmed it makes up more than half of new cases. A further 5,124 cases were confirmed in the State on Sunday.
Dr Holohan urged people eligible for the booster vaccine to avail of it at the earliest opportunity.
Modelling scenarios for the impact of the Omicron variant show up to 1,500 people requiring general hospital care, with more than 400 people requiring critical care, and more than 2,000 people in hospital at peak.
