The Omicron variant of Covid-19 is expected to become dominant within days, according to Professor Philip Nolan, chair of the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) modelling group.
As reported in The Irish Times, Professor Nolan detailed in a series of tweets how the Omicron variant will be a "significant challenge", as 35 per cent of positive swabs on Wednesday had the “S-gene target failure marker” for the variant.
This comes after Taoiseach Micheál Martin said he is “very worried” and “apprehensive” about the “sheer scale” of spread of the Omicron Covid-19 variant, as 7,333 Covid-19 cases were reported on Saturday.
As of 8am on Saturday, 410 Covid-19 patients are hospitalised, of which 107 are in ICU.
“The level of social contact in the next three weeks is key... if we fail to act the impact of Omicron could be devastating,” Professor Nolan said.
“We can hope that this is a short sharp wave, and that we can regroup in early spring with more extensive booster vaccination complete; the earlier and harder we act now, the more likely it is that we will manage, and can de-escalate earlier in 2022.”
Omicron will be a very significant challenge, but we are acting early, quickly and comprehensively. If we take a booster vaccine when offered, significantly limit contacts, mitigate risk, self-isolate if symptomatic and restrict movements if a contact, we can get through it. 1/22 pic.twitter.com/221nBd605Z
— Professor Philip Nolan (@PhilipNolan_SFI) December 18, 2021
Meanwhile, Chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan urged people to work together to reduce the incidence of the virus.
“Recent international experience and the rapid spread of the highly transmissible Omicron variant here means we can expect to see a large number of cases over the next short period of time,” Dr Holohan said.
“We all remember the call to ‘flatten the curve’ in the early days of the pandemic – we have successfully driven down incidence of disease in the community before – we can and must now work together to do it again.
“By choosing to act safely right now, together we can limit the impact this disease will have in the weeks to come and in doing so, we can protect the vulnerable, prevent unnecessary deaths and ensure the continued operation of our healthcare system and other essential services.”
Recent international experience and the rapid spread of the highly transmissible #Omicron variant here means we can expect to see a large number of cases over the next short period of time.
Advertisement— Dr Tony Holohan (@CMOIreland) December 18, 2021
Antigen testing
The Taoiseach has asked people to use antigen tests before going to social events amid the rising number of cases. While he recognised Nphet had reservations about antigen tests, he said he supported their use.
“A positive antigen test is a very valuable thing,” he explained.
However, he did not advocate widespread distribution of free antigen tests to the general population, adding that retailers had reduced the price of tests and free tests had already been made available for certain sectors of the population.
Mr Martin admitted it would be a "challenge", but said he remained confident schools would reopen in January.
According to the Taoiseach, between antigen and PCR testing, some 350,000 tests a week were being carried out. This comes as the positivity rate of the virus has risen to 18 per cent in recent days.
