Businesses in Clare’s hospitality sector are being reassured that measures will be taken in the Budget to ensure they can survive post covid.
It comes amid growing concern over the rising number of cases, with over 100 cases of covid-19 confirmed in Clare over the past four days alone.
The Green Party leader says no decision on whether to lift or escalate restrictions will be made for a number of weeks.
Minister Eamon Ryan says he thinks government will wait two to three weeks, before deciding whether the country should escalate COVID-19 restrictions.
It comes despite the CMO warning he’s more concerned about the virus now than he was when NPHET recommended the national move to level 5.
The government rejected Tony Holohan’s advice, and put the nation under level 3 restrictions that are set to remain in place until the end of the month.
Eamon Ryan says even if NPHET recommends escalating the measures, government should wait and see if the current restrictions work.
The Tánaiste says every effort is being made to avoid a circuit breaker lockdown, as past experience has proven to us that it can go on for months rather than weeks.
Leo Varadkar has told Clare FM that he hopes that placing the country on level three restrictions isn’t delaying the inevitable and is appealing to people to do everything they can to stop the virus spreading.
The Fine Gael Leader has acknowledged the uncertainty facing hundreds of businesses across the county and admits the state can’t afford to compensate the hospitality sector for all that it has lost.
He says they can take steps in the budget to make sure they survive, though he’s stopped short of confirming what those steps will be.
The National Public Health Emergency Team says we are now in a period of exponential growth and cases could exceed 1,000 a day in a matter of weeks.
While no official figure was released, Clare FM understands that 23 new cases were registered in this county yesterday, bringing to over 100 the number of cases here in just four days.
It means the incidence rate has spiralled further to 157.4, which is 160% higher than this time last week
Professor Sam McConkey from the Royal College of Surgeons says people’s individual actions are important:
The number of people being treated at University Hospital Limerick for the virus has fallen, meanwhile, despite a rise nationally.
There are 7 cases at Dooradoyle today, 1 of those in the ICU.
Across the country, there are 159 confirmed cases and 27 in Intensive Care, which is the highest since June 14th.
