Taoiseach: Ireland is ‘in for the long haul’ in fight against Covid-19

Ireland is “in for the long haul” in the fight to suppress Covid-19, according to the Taoiseach.

Micheál Martin told his parliamentary party Wednesday night that the UK variant is slowing the decline in case numbers.

The variant, now believed to account for a large proportion of cases in the Republic, is increasing the disease's reproductive number by 0.5 according to Mr Martin.

“We’re in for the long haul here with suppressing the case numbers. The priorities at Level 5 will be our education system, schools, and construction. The variants are challenging,” the Irish Examiner reports Mr Martin said.

The Taoiseach also warned he expects there to be some 800 people hospitalised with Covid-19 by the end of the month.

While new cases have plateaued, there could also still be “significant” numbers in intensive care units (ICU), he said.

A further 94 deaths and 1,013 new cases of Covid-19 were recorded in the Republic on Wednesday evening.

Dr Martin Daly, a former president of the Irish Medical Organisation, has said the high numbers of Covid-related deaths will continue.

“I think it’s likely to go on for another two weeks before we see a blunting of the number of deaths,” he said.

There are currently 1,366 people in hospital with the virus, including 202 in intensive care.

The latest figures from the HSE show there are 37 vacant ICU beds in the public system, while nine ICUs have no beds available.

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I think it’s very unlikely that Covid is going to go away

Infectious diseases consultant at Beaumont Hospital in Dublin, Eoghan De Barra, said Covid-19 will be around for some time to come.

“I think it’s very unlikely that Covid is going to go away. It’s not the history of what happens with other similar viruses,” he said.

“Depending on how efficacious the vaccines truly turn out to be in the real world and how wide the uptake on them is, and how quickly we do it as a global response, and with the simple measures of hygiene control, we can look to a future where we really beat this into submission.”