Re-imposing Covid restrictions can’t be ruled out if the current measures don’t have “sufficient effect“, according to NPHET.
In a letter from the Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Tony Holohan to the Minister for Health he says compliance with the current restrictions is ‘critical‘.
He adds that high levels of vaccination alone will bring the Delta variant’s R number below one.
Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan has told Minister Stephen Donnelly that there could be up to 1,000 people in hospital by the end of November if the Government pushed ahead with lifting all remaining restrictions.
Minister Donnelly said Dr Tony Holohan has told him the situation is going to worsen before it gets better.
He said “The advice from Dr Holohan (to me) is that it’s going to get worse before it’s going to get better because there has been an increase in cases and we haven’t yet seen that increase in cases translate into hospital and ICU.
“One message I have and it’s emphasised in the letter from the Chief Medical Officer to me, is that for those who have yet to get vaccinated, please get vaccinated.
“Two in every three people in ICU are completely unvaccinated.
“There is about 7% of the adult population unvaccinated.
“That’s putting a huge amount of pressure on the hospital system.”
