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Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan Sasko Lazarov via RollingNews.ie

Sample shows one in four Covid-19 cases in Ireland last week were UK variant, Holohan told government

The CMO wrote to Health Minister Stephen Donnelly on Tuesday regarding the current Covid-19 situation.

ONE IN FOUR positive Covid-19 cases in Ireland last week were that of the UK variant, Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan said in a letter to government on Tuesday.

The letter to Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly was sent a day before Taoiseach Micheál Martin yesterday announced a raft of tighter Covid-19 restrictions, including the closure of schools for the remainder of this month. 

The new restrictions come as Ireland experiences a daily growth rate of Covid-19 cases that is outpacing most of Europe. 

Yesterday, it was confirmed that the number of people currently in hospital with Covid-19 eclipsed the previous peak of the pandemic in April. 

In his letter to Donnelly on Tuesday, Dr Holohan warned that the epidemiological situation in Ireland has “deteriorated substantially” since the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) met on 30 December. 

Dr Holohan warned that a number of separate independent analyses indicated that the new Covid-19 variant from the UK has “significantly increased levels of transmission compared to other variants in circulation”, and that it is potentially “in the region of 50% more transmissible”. 

New research has shown that the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine protects against the UK and South Africa coronavirus variants.

Pfizer and researchers from the University of Texas carried out lab tests on the strains which were found to contain mutations including N501Y, an alteration in spike protein of the virus, which is a target for vaccines.

In a statement on Christmas Day, Dr Holohan confirmed that the new UK variant had been detected in Ireland. 

Outlining further analysis since then in Ireland in his letter on Tuesday, Dr Holohan said that on the week to 3 January a total of 47 out 189 positive case samples (24.9%) were that of the UK variant.

Dr Holohan said that further analysis and sequencing will take place over the coming days to “establish the extent of the presence” of both the UK and South African variants in Ireland. 

“It is anticipated that, from next week, a new PCR testing platform will facilitate a higher throughput screening approach for the UK variant,” Dr Holohan said. 

Commenting on the currently Covid-19 situation in Ireland, Dr Holohan said that “there has been a further significant deterioration across all indicators of disease transmission and severity in the six days since NPHET last met”. 

He said: 

The situation is expected to deteriorate further in the coming days given the known time lags associated with the impact of measures. 
Furthermore, latest information in relation to the presence of the UK variant here in Ireland and reports of its increased transmissibility from the UK are an emerging concern and point to the urgent need for as strict as possible adherence to the measures that have been mandated by government and for measures that are as strong as possible in relation to travel, particularly with regard to travel from the UK and South Africa. 

The government yesterday confirmed that the current ban on travel from the UK and South Africa will continue until Saturday, at which point all passengers coming from those two countries will be required to be in possession of a negative PCR test that they acquired within 72 hours of travelling. 

This new mandatory requirement will be in place until the end of the month when it will be reviewed. 

Schools

In relation to schools, Dr Holohan said that the experience from September to December 2020 “has clearly demonstrated that schools are in themselves a safe environment”. 

However, he continued: “The current epidemiological situation has deteriorated to a point where the significant levels of mobility and linked activity that the full reopening of schools would generate constitutes a very significant additional risk in the context of what are already unprecedented levels of disease transmission.” 

Dr Holohan stressed that “it is important to state that this advice is not based on a changed assessment of the risks in relation to transmission levels in school”.

Rather, it is a reflection of the overall epidemiological situation and the absolute need now to reduce all opportunities for transmission. 

Taoiseach Micheál Martin yesterday confirmed that schools will remain closed for the remainder of this month with a review to be open on when they will open. 

Martin said in an address yesterday afternoon however that students in the final year of their Leaving Certificate cycle will be allowed to attend school for three days a week. The Taoiseach reaffirmed the government’s commitment to the State exams proceeding as planned this year. 

The Taoiseach also said that special education should remain open “with protections in place”. 

- Additional reporting by Press Association. 

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    Mute Jules Lucas
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    Mar 4th 2013, 12:48 PM

    The impact of this scandal has done wonders for the local village butcher, which we are better off buying our meat from anyway in my opinion!

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    Mute Christmas Carroll
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    Mar 4th 2013, 12:56 PM

    Completely agree! Never mind the fact that at least you know what you’re getting is the real deal, it’s much healthier and tastes a hell of a lot better… Makes the extra money spent worth it!

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    Mute Figo murphy
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    Mar 4th 2013, 1:01 PM

    I agree. My local butcher is flying. He just bought a new car, he got rid of that old horse he used to go around on.

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    Mute Christmas Carroll
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    Mar 4th 2013, 1:03 PM

    Dammit Figo :-P

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    Mute Dodge Challenger
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    Mar 4th 2013, 12:53 PM

    Will this horse meat issue ever go away? It’s not that much of a big deal. Not to ruin any appetites but could you imagine the amount of little insects and other creatures that get minced in with the meat supply that we never know about.

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    Mute susanna smyth
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    Mar 4th 2013, 12:56 PM

    Burgers are tested for horse meat only. What other nasty could be in there disguised as beef ?

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    Mute Bo11ocks_to_this
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    Mar 4th 2013, 1:19 PM

    Did anyone else see the article from SA about water buffalo, horse and others found in beef. I’ll try find a link

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    Mute mcgoo
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    Mar 4th 2013, 1:15 PM

    A bit ironic that “Kanter” did the study eh?

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    Mute pat aherne
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    Mar 4th 2013, 1:21 PM

    When we were starting our then 18 month on meat (2years ago) my wife decided to get supermarket burgers just in case he did not like them – well to tell you the truth he pretty much threw the burger back at her. I said why not try butcher meat it will taste alot better and healthier for the child. She got a 1/4 pounder and he ate 2/3 of it. Hence even an 18 month old knew the taste of quality !!

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    Mute clareo79
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    Mar 4th 2013, 2:07 PM

    You gave an 18 month old a burger?!

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    Mute mister
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    Mar 4th 2013, 12:51 PM

    Interesting article. If I’m reading those stats correctly, does this indicate that ordinary local butchers have not experienced a bounce in trade? And if not, I wonder why?

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    Mute Hippocrateeth
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    Mar 4th 2013, 12:57 PM

    In other news, the number of horses commuting on the Dart has risen by over 800% in the past week. Community watch locals report a growing number of incidences involving horses some described as having ‘brazen attitudes’ and ‘brass balls’ towards concerned travellers waiting on the platforms for their respective trains. In a more striking example of the intimidation by the footloose horses, a 6-pack box of Silverdale frozen burgers was kicked at an elderly man’s head causing the man to curse loudly at the ebullient edible equine. The man was later taken for questioning. A file has been sent to the office of the DPP and a request for legal aid has been sought.

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    Mute Dave Kavanagh
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    Mar 4th 2013, 1:18 PM

    Great the media is loving this story and in doing so are systematically destroying one of Irelands core industries. Dont get me wrong I am totally for a free press but some of the sensationalism printed about this scandle (storm in a teacup) in relation to its connection with Ireland has been pure speculation and even when facts where established the Irish connection was still bigged up. Journal well done on being responsible and accurate if only other media would follow your example.

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    Mute Barry McSweeney
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    Mar 4th 2013, 3:22 PM

    If anyone is destroying one of Ireland’s core industries it is those who sold contaminated meat, the officials who refuse to admit that traceability “from farm to fork” is a lie, and the businessmen who refuse to speak publicly about what happened in their factories.
    Burying your head in the sand and “pulling on the green jersey” as you advocate will never work.

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    Mute АЛЕКСАНДРЪ ХАИШ
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    Mar 4th 2013, 5:47 PM

    Completely agree with you on this one, Dave!

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    Mute sid
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    Mar 4th 2013, 1:07 PM

    @ dodge

    I figure its a very big deal , nobody has any idea where what horses were used, could have used anything to bolster up the weight

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    Mute АЛЕКСАНДРЪ ХАИШ
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    Mar 4th 2013, 5:21 PM

    “FSAI” IS STILL WORKING ON CONTAMINATED MEAT PRODUCTS ???, WHILE THERE IS POISONOUS MILK AND DAIRY PRODUCTS RAPIDLY SPREAD ACROSS IRELAND! Disgrace!

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