As the country faces new restrictions from this week health chiefs continue to raise concerns about the Covid-19 situation in Ireland.
Thursday saw another massive spike in cases with 1,205 new infections reported and 3 more deaths confirmed.
As of midnight on Thursday Donegal, Cavan and Monaghan were all placed on Level 4 lockdown restrictions following an alarming surge in cases.
Meanwhile a nationwide ban on household visits has also been introduced for the other counties under Level 3 restrictions.
And the government has admitted it is likely that other counties will face Level 4 restrictions if the situation does not change.
NPHET experts warned coronavirus is ‘out of control’ and the situation is worse than predicted during a press briefing last night.
Dr Holohan said NPHET doesn't know who all the cases and contacts are anymore so to map all of these things realistically can no longer be an objective.
He said the scale of the infection now and the widespread community transmission means that NPHET can “not make the links.”
The reproductive R number nationally stands at 1.4, it’s at 1 in Dublin where there has also been an increase in cases.
But outside of Dublin, the R number could be as high as 1.8.
Here's the latest on what the health experts are saying:
Dr Tony Holohan
Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan said “it’s fair to say we’re extremely concerned,” the disease “has accelerated.”
He said: “It’s clear the disease is not in control, we share that challenge with not just colleagues in the North but almost every country.
“The number of hospitalisations are increasing faster than the exponential growth modelling predicted.
“The government isn’t going to wash your hands for you or wipe your nose.
“You need to take on that.”
Professor Philip Nolan
Prof Nolan said “the disease is moving so fast” and “we do anticipate an increase in numbers in ICU” in the coming weeks.
There has been a “significant increase in infections” in all age groups with a “two or three fold” increase in people aged over 65 in just one week.
Prof Nolan: “What we have here is a situation over 1,000 cases a day is really dangerous.
“But that’s a message of seriousness and concern but not a message of hopelessness and despair.”
Dr Ronan Glynn
Deputy CMO Dr Ronan Glynn said people’s behaviours have not changed much on roads, public transport and going to work.
He said people are ringing their GPs from their workplaces with symptoms and urged employers to allow employees to work from home.
When asked if NPHET’s stance and message to the government last night was to still move to Level Five, Dr Glynn said he would not speculate but reiterated his concerns.
He said: “Our view as NPHET has been clear that there has been a very significant volume of the disease and we made recommendations last week and obviously we’ve looked at the data.
“Clearly we’re very very concerned about the trajectory, speed, volume..admissions to critical care and deaths.”
