Shops, gyms, leisure centres, golf and tennis could all be shuttered again from tomorrow.
Stephen Donnelly has revealed that the Cabinet is holding an emergency meeting tomorrow to consider all of the above restrictions in a return to a “full” lockdown.
The Minister for Heath revealed that the latest letter from NPHET arrived on his desk yesterday, and that the reading is not good.
He said that the Chief Medical Officer, Dr Tony Holohan, has told him that a “full Level Five” is what is needed to arrest the “alarming”rise in numbers.
It is expected that the numbers will get worse in the coming days too, as the backlog from the Christmas weekend hits the system.
It has been estimated that we could be seeing daily figures in excess of 2,000 if the current escalation isn’t stopped.
Mr Donnelly said: “The latest letter I got was from Dr Holohan yesterday, so essentially NPHET is of the view and is reiterating the view that we need to move to, I guess what you would call, ‘full’ Level 5.
“The reason Cabinet is meeting tomorrow is to look at the measures that are in place and to consider restrictions in light of the increasing case numbers and hospitalisations.
“Essentially if you look around Level 5 versus before, retail is one of the big differences, gyms, leisure centres etc., home visits, the amount that can be allowed in terms of visits to the home, there are various ones like that in terms of where we are now compared to what would be a ‘full’ Level 5.”
