Dublin is likely to face a Christmas lockdown with cases of coronavirus unlikely to fall in the capital for months, a leading medical advisor has warned.
Cabinet is meeting this evening and is expected to sign off on moving the entire country to Level 5 of the Living With COVID plan for six weeks.
But DCU Professor of Health Systems Anthony Staines has warned that while these new measures are likely to save the festive season for most of the country, cases are unlikely to fall in Dublin until at least January.
"We’ve done a lot of modelling and the guide says that Dublin will be under significant restrictions to bring cases down until January," he told the Irish Daily Mail.
"There are just too many cases. We’ve had Level 3 and the number of cases in most of the country has not even stabilised.
"It may have stabilised in Dublin but it hasn’t gone down."
He continued: "As it comes down in a county you can reduce the level of restriction in the county providing you are keeping a handle on who is coming and out of the county.
"That is a very convoluted way of saying you could open up large parts of the country substantially for Christmas."
A further 1,031 cases of the killer virus were announced by health chiefs this evening with 235 in Dublin.
The Government looks likely to move the country to the tightest level of restrictions until the end of November after Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan warned last week that the virus was spiralling out of control.
Non essential retailers and services including hairdressers, barbers, toy shops and gyms must close under the new rules but it looks likely that schools and creches will remain open.
Pubs, cafes and restaurants will only be able to serve takeaway and travel restrictions possibly in the order of 10 kilometres are also expected.
An announcement confirming the new restrictions is expected at around 9pm this evening and you can follow all the latest updates in our live blog.
