Irish officials have begun to voice their concerns around the country's full reopening, which is just one week away, as the trajectory of the virus seems to be taking an unexpected turn.
Several members of government have been issuing warnings as case numbers and Covid hospital occupancy continues to grow among both the vaccinated and unvaccinated.
Speaking to Newstalk earlier this afternoon, Tanaiste Leo Varadkar revealed that some restrictions cannot be ruled out as they look to safeguard the reopening amid the rise in infection rates.
He said: "The Delta wave didn’t turn out to be as severe as we feared, but we’ve never managed to really get numbers down in Ireland.
“The Delta wave swept across Europe, but you see countries in central Europe that are now yellow zones or green zones, and we’re still a red zone."
He revealed that things may have to be reconsidered next week if the case numbers being reported by health officials don't come down.
Varadkar said: “The plan is to lift pretty much all legal restrictions on October 22nd, to remove the vaccine pass requirement from restaurants for example.
"But that is something we have to consider next week, depending on the numbers and the advice from NPHET."
NPHET issued a ‘negative’ briefing to members of the government today, which pinpointed a stark change in the current Covid situation.
The expert group overseeing Ireland’s response to the virus is due to meet early next week before handing over its latest advice to the Government.
Meanwhile, Taoiseach Micheal Martin has been echoing the warnings put forward today and said the pandemic “has not gone away”.
Speaking earlier, he hinted that the full reopening may even be delayed with the current direction things are going in.
Senior government officials have also been warned about an increase in the R number which is now trending above 1.
Speaking in the Dáil today, Mr. Martin said: “Over the course of the last seven days the rate of infection, the number of hospital admissions, and the rate of ICU admissions have all increased.
“The pandemic has not gone away and it requires all of us to continue to be careful.”
An Taoiseach is due to make an announcement after the Cabinet meets on October 19 regarding the reopening on October 22.
