Ireland is to reintroduce Covid-19 restrictions this week, including a return to working from home wherever possible and a midnight curfew for pubs and clubs, in an effort to curb a fourth wave of the virus that has pushed infections to their highest level in nearly a year.
It is one of three European countries that will implement measures in the coming days. Slovakia and the Czech Republic are also set to introduce new restrictions after both countries on Wednesday recorded their highest daily infection figures since the start of the pandemic.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin, who said the grim picture in Ireland and across Europe was of “deep concern”, also announced a ramp-up of booster vaccines to all over-50s and vulnerable people.
Without Ireland’s vaccination success — 89 per cent of over-12s are now double jabbed — “there is no doubt we would not be in a full-scale lockdown”, he said in an address to the nation on Tuesday evening.
In the Czech Republic, where just 58 per cent of the population is fully vaccinated, prime minister Andrej Babis said that from next Monday, people who had not been vaccinated or recovered from Covid-19 would be banned from attending public events.
Meanwhile, in Slovakia, where hospitals in the east of the country are stretched to their limits, the government will decide on Thursday the extent of the restrictions they will implement. Proposals include banning the unvaccinated from non-essential shops, sports facilities and public mass gatherings.
The new Irish restrictions, which take effect at on Friday, mark a reversal of a full reopening in the hospitality sector that had been under way for less than a month.
Irish hospitals over the past week saw the second highest rate of hospital admission this year. Ireland reported 4,407 cases on November 16, the highest level since January, and 634 people in hospital with Covid-19, a level not seen since February.
Chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan said there had been 55,000 confirmed cases in the past two weeks and “this case level is unsustainable”.
Writing on Twitter, he added: “Unfortunately, we do expect this figure to increase.”
He told RTÉ Radio there could be 200,000 infections in December.
Pub and club owners, who have been able to open in full since October 22, demanded Covid-19 support for the hard-hit sector, so close to Christmas, and warned that jobs would be lost. Despite the clampdown in the hospitality sector, sporting events will still be able to go ahead.
Last week the Netherlands became the first EU country to introduce sweeping nationwide lockdown measures for at least three weeks.
While a number of European countries have resolved to implement restrictions, changes in Germany are still being discussed. The country’s political leaders are considering tighter restrictions on unvaccinated people as cases soar, with the seven-day incidence rate rising to another all-time high of 319 per 100,000 on Wednesday.
But handling the fourth wave has been hampered by the fact that a new coalition is aiming to take over governing from Angela Merkel in the coming weeks following the country’s September 26 parliamentary election.
The expected coalition of centre-left Social Democrats, Greens, and pro-business Free Democrats is aiming to pass a new law for pandemic measures through the Bundestag on Thursday. If passed, it would for the first time require people in the workplace or using public transportation to provide proof of a negative test, vaccination, or recovery.
European countries bring back Covid restrictions as cases rise
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