The government has announced that the entire country will move to Level 5 of Covid-19 restrictions on Wednesday night amid a surge in cases of the virus. Despite these being the most severe set of restrictions in the government’s Living with Covid roadmap, the announcement contains some ‘softer’ measures. The restrictions will come into effect from midnight on Wednesday night for six weeks, but will be reviewed after four weeks.
The restrictions include a 5km travel limit for exercise, ‘support bubbles’ between two households will also be implemented for lone parents and vulnerable people, only essential retailers will be allowed to stay open, schools, creches and other childcare services will also remain open, there will be a ban on evictions and the Pandemic Unemployment Payment and the Employee Wage Subsidy Scheme will be amended to accommodate those impacted by the new restrictions. Is this the right move at the right time?
On Tuesday’s Morning Focus, Gavin Grace spoke to Fine Gael TD Joe Carey, Independent TD Michael McNamara, Dr. Mai Mannix, Director of Public Health for the HSE Mid-West and Kay Murphy, Midwest Regions PRO for Active Retirement Ireland about the introduction of restrictions.
