THE HSE will continue to support the two metre rule for social distancing, top boss Paul Reid said today.
Many politicians this week have questioned the two metre rule when the World Health Organisation says one metre is sufficient to stop the spread of the virus.
At at a press briefing at the TU Grangegorman campus in Dublin, Mr Reid said: “The NPHET guidelines at the moment is still two metres.“One metre would certainly give us extra capacity.
“But we’ll be guided by NPHET.”
More than 30,000 Covid-19 tests were conducted this week, according to the HSE. This brings the total number of tests taken to 310,000.
Yesterday, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said there is no change to 2m social distance advice.
Leo was speaking after it was revealed that several cabinet ministers advocated for the adoption of World Health Organisation guidance which states that a one metre distance is said to be safe.
It is believed that the concerns will be raised at a meeting between Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan and the cabinet later this week.
Advocates of cutting the social distance rule in half argue that it would have a very positive impact for business and schools.
