When it comes to Covid-19, Ireland's Government has been playing a numbers game for months.
Now, the magic figure for the State – the "green zone", in the words of a senior source – is 199 daily cases.
If Ireland can wrestle case numbers down to fewer than 200 a day, momentum will really start to build for a substantial easing of coronavirus restrictions, the Irish Mirror reported today.
Ireland's National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) is meeting this afternoon to discuss the latest figures and how Ireland should tackle the thorny problem of reopening for Christmas.
For Government and health officials – as well as retailers and a chorus of other lobby groups – the challenge lies protecting a precious reduction in case numbers while facing the economic imperatives of restarting the country.
A three-phase ‘safe’ plan would see most retail reopen next week, limited hospitality back in business a week or two later and finally inter-county travel allowed a week before Christmas.
It's understood, under discussions underway at the moment, that restaurants and food-serving pubs could get the nod to reopen in the coming weeks.
But that hasn't proved enough for pub lobbyists, who today blasted NPHET for its "vindictiveness" towards Irish pubs ahead of Christmas.
Padraig Cribben, the chief executive of the Vintners' Federation of Ireland, said: "There is what I would have called a bias but I'm now beginning to believe is a vindictiveness in NPHET towards pubs."
Meanwhile, retailers are piling pressure on the Taoiseach to allow them start trading again from next Monday, rather than asking them to wait until the end of Level Five on Wednesday, December 1.
Duncan Graham, the managing director of Retail Excellence, has called for restrictions to be lifted on casual sit-down dining in shopping centre cafes, as well as inter-county travel so people can enjoy a decent shopping spree.
