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“WE HAVE EFFECTIVELY” extinguished Covid-19 from the community, according to Chief Medical Officer Tony Holohan.
Speaking in the Dáil today, where the first meeting of the Special Dáil Covid-19 Committee is being held, Holohan said:
“In broad terms, we have effectively extinguished it from the community in general, right across the country. Much of the caseload that is now being reported is seen in the context of particular settings.
“We are still seeing some positive numbers in residential care facilities, though the number has reduced very substantially, and in some occupational settings.
“That is not to say that there are not some cases, but we have effectively extinguished it, which was the strategy from the very start. We have to start with suppressing this infection across the community before we have a chance of protecting nursing homes or other specific settings.
“We have it down to a very, very low level. We don’t have widespread community transmission.”
He added that there is “no certainty we can keep this virus suppressed”.
Vigilance
Holohan said the advice of NPHET [National Public Health Emergency Team] is that restrictions are eased on a phased basis, while maintaining close vigilance on the spread.
NPHET will continue to advise the government so as to ensure that the decisions made are informed by public health considerations, “while recognising that government will also need to take into account wider economic, social and other considerations, as part of the phased unwinding of restrictions”.
On testing, he said 97% of people are getting a test result by text message as that is the level that are testing negative.
Holohan said the majority of contact tracing is happening within 24 hours.
“Some positive results are still coming through from nursing homes, but they are low,” he said.
HSE CEO Paul Reid said ICU capacity has increased from 225 beds to an operable capacity of over 400.
The CMO confirmed today that the ICU number had fallen to 50. There were 70 patients in intensive care at the time that the initial lockdown measures were introduced.
Holohan said that the HSE is at the capacity of carrying out 100,000 tests a week.
He added: “Our assessment is that we believe it is needed. It’s not the only target that is important. It’s also the test turnaround.
“There is a fixation on 100,000 tests but it needs to be fluid.”
Asked how many members are currently on the NPHET team, Holohan said that it has grown with the state’s needs.
“We co-opted people along the way,” he added.
“The challenge of keeping up to date with the administrative tasks is significant.”
He committed to have all the minutes of NPHET meetings published.
The Dáil committee also heard that a nurse who began work in a Dublin hospital a fortnight ago was not tested for coronavirus before starting the job and now has the virus.
People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett raised the case of an agency nurse and expressed concern at Ireland’s “much higher” rate of infection among health workers than other countries.
Holohan said new guidance on the matter had been issued today by the European Centre of Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), which he said would be considered closely by NPHET.
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Good open the economy then just keep the airport closed USA and UK are still struggling with the pandemic flying in tourists from there is a mistake
@Matthew O’Kane: That would be very close to what Australia & NZ are doing- both have almost completely lifted restrictions but force all arrivals to quarantine 14 days in a hotel. They also feel community transmission has almost been eliminated…
@Bountyop: fine geal and fianna fail let this in i dont trust them to handle 14 day isolations when they messed up the care homes already we need to keep the brakes on international travel
@Matthew O’Kane: Let this in? There is a worldwide pandemic. There was no stopping it from getting in.
@Matthew O’Kane:
The United States and Canada authorities are very strict on who can enter their countries and they have reported more cases and deaths.
The virus can stay dormant in a person for weeks or even months before making a presence. Fianna Fail and Fine Gael let this virus in? No they didn’t you really are clueless. Go back to sleep
@Matthew O’Kane: As someone with a spouse working overseas, I very much hope that we don’t close our airports. Myself and my children are waiting every day for the news that restrictions on his side will be lifted and that we’ll be able to see him for the first time in months. He will happy self quarantine for 2 weeks if it means seeing his children. Parenting over Skype isn’t easy on anyone involved. Closing the airports isn’t as black and white as it may seem. It isn’t all about tourists.
@Matthew O’Kane: That’s bull Matthew. A real trump-like line there
@Matthew O’Kane: doesn’t make much sense seeing as most people come into Ireland by ferry
@Matthew O’Kane:
Na.. Can’t do that because the Sinner up North didn’t keep a one island policy…
They couldn’t handle Arlene when half of her support wanted to do the right thing…
@Matthew O’Kane: shut the f.,, up for Gods sake and grow up
@Matthew O’Kane: I am not saying we should ‘brake’ international travel, I’m saying a mandatory enforced quarantine should be considered. Those posting about spouses, relatives, etc would all get what they want, but they’re going to stay in a hotel for 14 days first…it may be that this does nothing as the spread is multifactorial- but it should be considered
@Bountyop: when you let the flood gates open on the airports and international travel before the second wave hits well that says alot about you doesnt it i dont want them open thats my position and saying family members need to return is a different case that fulling a plane to bursting point with a load of untested tourists from UK and USA the irish government flew family member back during this crisis using that to prie open airports for business as usual is also a factor here. I want them closed till second wave runs its course come at me!
@Matthew O’Kane: What are you on about with, ‘says a lot about me’? The two countries I’ve given as examples have severely curtailed flights (you can’t actually book to go to NZ at the moment), so I’m not saying ‘hoards’ of full flights, I’m saying necessary flights and quarantine. You can book on Qatar for Oz from May 18. Maybe you don’t understand what I’m saying…
@Margaret Mcgarry: very aggressive Margaret, you sound very reasonable
@Matthew O’Kane: what a stupid statement , and I’m being kind with the word STUPID !!
Ah cool… it’s extinguished from the public but he still wants to have phased approach.
Please make your mind up…
@8-Bit-Relic: Holohan has the right idea thinking you are isolated imsulated from other nations struggling if you throw open the doors and throw away safe gaurds and caution because we have been more sucessful than other countries we have failed in the care homes we can fail on a national stage there will be a second wave to this listen to healthcare professional and show some caution or we will be on trump and johnsons pandemic response level in no time
@8-Bit-Relic:
This is a great headline and a bit of good news is always welcomed… however, there could be bucket loads of cases who are asymptomatic and if we open up the whole economy tomorrow we could be risking the massive progress we’ve made over the last 10 weeks.
There has been mistakes made, yes, but let’s not make another massive one in counting our chickens.
TDs & NPHET have said we could move quicker through the phases but calling for everything to be reopened 2 days in Phase 1 is a disaster waiting to happen.
Call me a soppy b*llox, but I want to hug my Mam and would rather do that safe in the knowledge that I haven’t inadvertently given her a horrible disease.
@DublinLad: oh, don’t get me wrong, I would also allow my son to play with children BUT you can’t make the claim to have eliminated a virus and call for a lockdown at the same time.
The virus is either removed or still a threat.
I have hope if he says it’s gone and means it but before that it’s just a confusing message or false hope
@DublinLad: If you think I it’s bad now think again….if a,depression hits and we cannot pay back the Bill’s we will get a severe dose of reality….and if you want to know what that is like ask the Greeks. This lockdown should be stopped early June at the latest before it sinks us all.
@DublinLad: Well put!
@Matthew O’Kane: if Northern Ireland would work with us we could isolate island and have an almost normal life until the situation is also better abroad.
I’m interested in that eliminated part in our community and then see to the others
@8-Bit-Relic: northern irelands impact is a problem but our actions will decide the duration of this and if our health service continues to manage a possible curb from second wave the cost of the pandemic lasting years will destroy small businesses accross the country for good let them open and take your holiday to our coast support local rather than risking a airport and country struggling to contain this. Keep the airport closed for now this pandemic travels fast we have more to lose by opening them.
@Matthew O’Kane: in fairness, if the virus would be indeed eliminated from the community that would be a reasonable solution.
Im fairness it’s in best Irish interest to support the business here with our holidays.
However, for that we need clear statement either way. At the moment we don’t even know if we could book holidays in Ireland as everything is subject to change.
@8-Bit-Relic: the testing has been enough for me to say open on a national level and test if we can keep that going and keep our business international digital for now thats my position i know it cuts small business but a second wave could do more damage to us if we open airports to countries struggling
The cure cannot be worse than the problem and for that I think we can all agree.
I think if we keep up mass testing and go a week or so with under 5-10 cases or none at all, then great!
My worry with asymptomatic cases is look what happened at the beginning of this with Patient Zero in S. Korea.
From a tourist point of view, I don’t think we should allow in people where the virus is still rampant. Tourism is worth about €10bn to the Irish Economy and going without that is going to be tough, however. If everyone that would otherwise holiday abroad, spend that money in Ireland, I’m sure it would make a decent dent in that figure.
There is no magic solution to this and we are watching what other countries do before we act, which I think is right. See the impact it has, then decide.
@8-Bit-Relic: he didnt say its extinguished, he said “nearly” go back to march when it only took 7 people coming here to infect thousands! Stop free flow flights, force the quarantine on incoming passengers for 14 days, so the rest of us can get back to it, holiday in Ireland and let’s keep our hospitality industry going. We have a beautiful country after all !
@Matthew O’Kane: A little punctuation might make that more intelligible
@8-Bit-Relic: The virus clusters are happening in work places such as meat factories, hospitals and nursing homes. that does not mean that the virus can’t come back to the community as the people that work in these places live in the community. there are also old cases(last 2 weeks) that are not resolved, where the patient could still spread the virus.
Well done.
Next: closely monitor EVERYONE coming into the country from abroad if not banning international passenger flights.
@Seriousnojoke: the 2 weeks isolation was completely un monitored fine geal fianna fail let this in can we just accept they cant manage that rather than the we all partied we all pay route ? Id rather not pay with lives the way we did with the our taxes in the 2010 crash with greens and fianna fail
@Seriousnojoke: how are you going to do that? How can you ensure that all the hundred of passengers getting off a plane will do as they’re told? That’s only one plane. We’ll have multiple flights across multiple airports and then there’s the ferries. Even the great leader in North Korea wouldn’t have the manpower to
monitor this.
@Patrick Agnew: Australia is doing it. My pals who recently went back there are now in the quarantine hotels for 14 days. New Zealand is the same.
@Seriousnojoke: OZ and New Zealand have a better screen than the EU and USA t you gotta accept the news reported from spain italy and UK the cases and deaths where fasts and many we cant just jump into models that appear to work in some countries even sweden hasnt benefited from their model
@Matthew O’Kane: So what should be our model then to minimise imported cases? Do nothing??
@Seriousnojoke:
I would be more concerned about the numbers coming in from Northern Ireland on daily basis,. The Northern Ireland border however will not be closed, as it is a political and physical impossibility. That’s the reality.
The reality also is that this virus is here to stay for a very long time We are always going to have a small number of cases entering the country. The existing self isolating rules for people coming in on passenger flights, are probably sufficient. Due to our social distancing measures and lack of social gatherings, the chances of them spreading the virus are negligible.
Until, if ever, we get a vaccine, there has to be a balance between some sort of normality and this virus.
So why are we still not „allowed“ to see our family and friends and why were the garda emergency powers, due to expire yesterday, quietly extended with not a word about it in the media?
@Newto2016: If you want to see your Family go on ahead. Are you going to wait for the clowns in charge over here to say it’s ok..
@David Garland: by clowns you mean the health professionals ? Do you
@Margaret Mcgarry: As a health professional, I dont think anybody should have a right to tell people not to see their family, these restrictions are getting beyond ridiculous
@Frank Scanlon: As a health professional, you’re pretty irresponsible…
People can complain about the economy all they want but a LOT of lives have been saved as a result of these measures. Well done Ireland
@Les Wynan: Surely a lot of lives lost though as well.
@mar: Who lost their life because of the lockdown ?
Buckle up for the second wave folks, this winter is going to be grim.
@Rob Hunt: See it’s that type of crap that has people afraid to walk down the road.. If you want, hide under your duvet till a vaccine is found. But let the rest of us get on with our lives and start the Economy moving
@Rob Hunt: hopefully with proper effort on our island it wont be it hasnt happen yet but the airports opening up is crazy when nations are struggling and trump admitted that more testing will hurt his re election its no time to be flying in tourists by the 10,000s with a garda nod and a quick taxi/bus to anywhere in the country
@Rob Hunt: I think there will be some sort of treatment by year end….not a vaccine but a treatment that will nullify the severity of the virus….that’s me staying positive lol
@Peter Hughes: ill need a little more than positive vibes to relax about a virus that reuters reports has killed 300k worldwide
@Matthew O’Kane: What about everything else than kills hundreds of thousands of people each year? Are you relaxed about all of those I wonder?
@Rob Hunt: what the hell are you doing posting on The Journal and not working for the WHO considering you’re such an expert.
@Matthew O’Kane: 1.5 million died from TB in 2018. Where was the worldwide lockdown. Why should we be less relaxed this year?
@Pete Slattery: Cos he’s an expert commenter lol. Non-transferable skills. Why don’t you get a job trimming otter toenails? Great pay and you get to choose your own hours as long as you don’t mind getting your feet wet.
@David Garland: Your tendency to capialise random words in your rants as if that makes them more true leads me to believe you’re a fan of a certain U.S. president’s Twitter feed.
@David Garland: whose hiding under the duvet ? What planet are you on
@Margaret Mcgarry: Try and keep up Maggie
@David Garland: Read up on the Spanish flu and the damage done by the 2nd wave as compared to the 1st. The virus mutated to a deadlier form and hit in the Autumn. Could the same happen again is any bodies guess I’d say.
@AOL: 95% of those deaths are in developing countries
@Kevin Thompson: So basically what you are saying is that it doesn’t count and no lockdown needed because 95 percent of deaths were not in the west? What about the other 5 percent of people who could have flown to europe or the US and infected everyone? There is a drug resistant TB that can’t be cured and is spread in the same way as covid. Surely under the current climate, if there was no covid, we should be locking down for TB, no? This whole it’s not happening here so it doesn’t exist nonsense is what has made us what we have become. Blind to the world unless it’s in our news. Then we believe it.
@David Garland: The reason iss they do not want to catch what can be a killer virus. That’s what has people scared.
As seen in the meat plants if correct procedure is not followed there are mass outbreaks.
Until everything is ready then opening up too soon will have us back at the start of the pandemic.
I don’t understand. If its effectively eliminated why are we not fully open.
@Karen Delaney:Effectively doesn’t mean it’s gone…just he reckons there are not too many cases on the go.
Could yet be quite a few asymptomatic carriers about so if you just open up it could explode again.
I would imagine if number stays really really low in coming weeks restrictions easing could be speeded up..
By God that’s good news, incredible diligence from the people of Ireland and it’s medics.
@Emer Caffrey: The statement is very BOLD! The HSE are not doing mass testing and the virus can be dormant in some people for day’s so a wait and see approach might make more sense? China thought it was gone from the community too!
It will be interesting to see what they do because once they open up the country, infections will just rise again.
I think social distancing will be here for a while.
@James Bishop: not to mention people arent gonna go straight back to normal with reuters reporting the worldwide death toll is over 300k since the start of the year might cool customer spending a little
@Matthew O’Kane: The seasonal flu kills between 300k and 700k every year and the world lives with this.
We’re opening up the country and indeed the world because we have to, permanent lockdown is not an option.
You want to hide away in your own home forever more that’s your prerogative.
@Will: thars a strawman i didnt say keep the lockdown i said open it up just keep the airports closed for now i know small business need to start recovering
@Matthew O’Kane: Strawman argument? Says the man with the silly analogy about smokers below.
This virus is very serious for the elderly and the infirm. These are the people who should be protected.
The rest of us need to get on with living and that includes airports.
@Will: the seasonal flu analogy is flawed. You are comparing the death toll of a flu (which we generally have a vaccine for) over a period of 12 months to a virus without a vaccine over a period of 5 months. Covid has already passed to annual death toll of the normal flu.
@Will:
Had the lockdown actions not been taken across the world, this virus would have killed many more than that.
Open up primary schools for June and July , job done in my book, let’s get out Asses in gear and begins the recovery
@Paddy Dunne: you know when someone lung cancer and has a tumor removed they dont go back to smoking they usually change their life style a little
@Paddy Dunne: July is the summer holidays Paddy.
@Paddy Dunne: is that your problem? The primary schools? Get a grip
@Niall Hollywood: there is no holiday this year
@Niall Hollywood: absolutely, time for teachers and others to do their bit. Half the “workers” in the country have enjoyed an 8 week holiday in fabulous weather while we essential workers have been worked to exhaustion. Time to stop playing the I’m not going to risk ….card and get back to work.
@Lochlainn Marcus: all I’m saying is this virus is as good as extinguished at this moment in time , get the kids. Back to school let us get our shoulders to the wheel and get going again , use social distancing as much as possible wear masks the ones that can work from home keep doing that , old folks leave it to them if that want to cocoon further, kids need an education we all need to get back to work , leo was too quick to pull the plug 2 weekly intervals and see how things go pull back if we have to , hopefully this app will help
Our current daily infection rate is about the same as it was on 17 March or so. That was 2 days after the Government finally caved in to public pressure to close the pubs, 5 days after schools were closed, and just around the start of our beginning to hunker down.
It is simply too early for us to all go mad and go to the beach and pubs and restaurants. We *really* don’t want to undo the hard work done over the past 2 months.
@Deirdre O’Byrne: Beachs are all closed off anyway no where to park
@Deirdre O’Byrne: Nobody cares about the virus anymore, it’s all about opening everything up again asap. Pubs and hairdressers, sure what could go wrong ….?
“We have to start with suppressing this infection across the community before we have a chance of protecting nursing homes or other specific settings.
They dropped the ball terribly with regards to nursing homes 8 weeks ago and now they are saying that you need to clear it from the community before they can address it in nursing homes. So was anything done with regards to nursing homes during all of this?
“The Dáil committee also heard that a nurse who began work in a Dublin hospital a fortnight ago was not tested for coronavirus before starting the job and now has the virus.” – ?
“He committed to have all the minutes of NPHET meetings published.” – that would be good but will there be the usual redacted sections?
We’re doing great! A big focus is now needed on ports and airports to prevent it being brought back in.
Thanks be to God.
@Thewestisbest: because he created that virus?
In this article there is mention of a capacity of 100k tests a week. On another article today a nurse commented that she and 14 other colleagues were stationed at a testing centre and only 4 people went through the centre last week. What’s that all about?
@AOL: 295K tests in total have been carried out in just under three months (12 weeks) based on official figures. That is 24K per day averaged. The capacity has increased during that time obviously but they are nowhere near testing 100K per day.
@Sean: *per week* I meant. Nowhere near.
Adopt the NZ model; Ports and airports shut to all tourism, all but the most essential workers, (i.e. medical/scientific professionals who have a particular reason for needing to be here in person) and any citizens returning go to a specific place for two weeks. All incoming people tracked closely. Tough on the tourism sector but they should see a big increase in domestic tourists. Then we can slowly reopen air routes to places with a similar infection rate to ours. If the gov. adopt this approach life could return to normal here very quickly.
Are we worse than italy? Italy Bar and restaurant closure March 11th to May 18th – 60 days. Ireland closed restaurants on March 22nd to June 29th – 97 days. Ireland closed bars on March 16th to August 10th – 147 days. Whats going on here people.
@Robaird O Raighne: Look at the figures for Italy and ireland and they will tell youhttps://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/
Look at the death rate as opposed to ours. Look at the amount infected and recovered. We have done a great job as a people.
Opening up too soon will waste what we have done.
The approach has been super cautious and it has worked. Why mess it up now
Is there a reliable antibody test available yet? I know there is no scientific proof yet that antibodies = no re-infection but it would give a better indication where we are with “herd immunity”. If so, we should have the entire population tested over the next month or so. I think my husband had a mild dose already – before it was identified as a pandemic – and I’m sure it’s the same for many more
@ismiijill: Absolutely, right now, this is more important than testing for the virus. Studies show recovery from infection provides long, or possibly life immunity.
@System Halted: How do studies show this, It can only prove it provides 5.5 month immunity (the length of time that the virus has been around
Unless we ban the free movement of people into our ports which is the one thing they seem reluctant to do keeping this virus out of the emerald isle will be impossible.
This 14 day isolation is a complete red herring. Who would arrive here under those conditions. Nobody.
A total ban on arrivals for 1 calendar year except in cases of emergency is my preference. That way our domestic economy can bounce back very fast while we wait on vaccines and cures to be discovered. Anyone with any smarts would surely agree.
@Ryan1time: thankfully our parliamentarians have more sense, and know when the far right are targetting someone with their fake news.
Anyway what’s the deal with Gates all of a sudden? I though you lot were all out for Soros? Have you given up on him? Too many (truthful IMO) accusations of anti-semitism?
OK so let’s just get it right..the government only imposed restrictions weeks after most of the corporates here took the initiative and introduced their own WFH policies and travel bans. The weak FFG government, who had effectively been voted out of office, saw the opportunity for a power grab if the virus could be brought into the country. So long after the multinationals had introduced travel bans this government let hundreds of people who had travelled to Lombardi and other virus hotspots back into the country without any controls. They then introduce the most restrictive controls and laws in our history, knowing that a good auld dose of doctrine and instruction would produce a national amnesia and masochistic adherence (this is going to hurt, but just look at Trump and those Brits). The media were grabbed by the balls as advertising plummeted and the Dept Health stepped in to become the biggest media spender. There was therefore no public criticism of our government despite what became an obsession with analysis and commentary on US and UK government ineptitude. Their popularity soared … they will hold on to power …. do we deserve better?
@Vinylman_Teaboy: . It’s a worldwide scam to keep the present government in power then, as the whole world is in lock down.
The total number of deaths in Ireland reported on RIP.ie for the week 11-18th May 2019 = 723
The total number of deaths in Ireland reported on RIP.ie for the week 11-18th May 2020
= 712
@Paul Lanigan: and?? What is this meant to imply?…. rip.ie doesn’t list all deaths, not only that, flu season was cut quite short this year due to lockdown etc so saying more people died last year to this year does not correlate with anything!!
@Paul Lanigan: if you look at England /wales there has been 41000 extra deaths this year compared to the average of the previous 5 years. This is because they entered lockdown later than us.
France opened their schools and now they have 70 cases in one schoolIt was immediately shut down again.We done want that
Can they lift the 5km rule so. I’d really love to see my grandchildren.
Give it 2 weeks …. We’ll be going backwards !!
Greece announced today that they wont make people do a 2 week quarantine for those entering the country on holiday but the question now has to be asked will we enforce a 2 week quarentine for people returning from there as they could infect a large number of people on flights as well
If people go on holiday this year make it unaffordable for them as its a huge public risk to allow it until next summer when the virus may truly be put to bed with a vaccine fingers crossed
That’s the first piece of positive news I’ve read. But then Holohan states that social distancing (hate the expression with a vengeance) might be around for years. Does he get some buzz scaring the life out of people because if that’s the case the economic and mental health of the nation will be destroyed. Holohan stated from the start that the vast majority of people who contract the virus will experience mild symptoms and he’s correct. Over 99% of people who get it make a full recovery. I simply cannot reconcile the shutting down of the economy as an intelligent move given the obvious massive societal damage in every respect. Surely we as a modern country have the facilities and structures in our health and care systems to take full care of and protect the people who were in danger.
@Sean Dermody: No we dont. Nor has any other country.
Thank you
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