Professor Sam McConkey has warned that we could see curfews under a Level Six lockdown.
This drastic new Level could see draconian curfews where people are ordered to stay locked down in their homes after ten o’clock at night.
The medical expert was responding to criticisms that NPHET has gone too far in recommending escalating our lockdown alert to Level Five.
But Professor McConkey warned that it could be worse and that we could see lockdowns at “Level Six, Seven, Eight, Nine and Ten.”
And he argued that the restrictions we have here are not the strictest in Europe and that many other countries - like the UK - face being locked in their homes after 10pm.
The respected professor told Pat Kenny on Newstalk: “They do have curfews in the UK.
“Some people say we have the strictest restrictions in Europe, but there is a curfew I believe in parts of the UK where after ten o’clock you’re not allowed out.
“So that could be a Level Six.
“I know nobody’s talked about Level Six yet and probably even shocked to hear Sam talk about Level Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten, but certainly curfews have been used in other countries for this.”
Professor McConkey also said that the latest surge has been slower to materialise than the one in March and April that led to the last national lockdown.
But he said that the trajectory is still the same.
He said: “The frog in the slowly boiling water is the best metaphor because it’s boiling slowly.
“So it’s not like in early March when everyone saw the horrific pictures from Northern Italy, and then Spain, and said, ‘oh, this is terrible, we must do something.’
“It’s not as catastrophically quick, it’s happening much more gradually, but it’s still going in the same direction.
“It’s still going more and more consistently and gradually every week.
“So we do need to take action and get it back down.
“And I think we need political vision to achieve that.”
