The country’s top doctors warned the Government last night: “Open the pubs at your peril.”
NPHET wants all bars and restaurants to delay the return of indoor drinking and dining, scheduled for next Monday, for several weeks.
They fear the Delta variant could grab hold and cause “thousands of new cases a day” and “a peak of deaths in August”.
The Government will make a decision today but it is expected it will take the medical advice and not allow indoor hospitality.
They are in crisis talks with NPHET after the medical experts delivered their grim assessment which warns of a rapid escalation in cases as Delta becomes dominant.
It is understood politicians will battle to save the summer for hospitality while respecting the “serious” NPHET warnings.
The Cabinet’s Covid sub-committee sat late into the night as they digested the latest advice.
Meanwhile, senior Government ministers were last night also discussing the potential of a “compromise” reopening of bars and restaurants from Monday.
The proposal, which will also be discussed at this morning’s crunch Cabinet meeting, would see extra restrictions introduced for indoor dining. This would include less customer capacity and tables further apart indoors.
And it would be accompanied by a new public health message urging people who have not been vaccinated not to eat or drink indoors for the time being.
One senior Government source last night told the Irish Mirror that this would be a “soft version” of the idea mooted briefly that only vaccinated people would be allowed to avail of indoor dining.
However, this was discounted as impractical and impossible to police as there are no widely used vaccine certificates or documentation.
