The CMO said Ireland is now facing a “substantial surge” on account of the Delta variant.
If it wasn’t for its proposal of a vaccine pass, NPHET would have recommended pubs and restaurants stay shut for indoor dining until the end of September “or beyond”, says Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Dr Tony Holohan.
On Tuesday, Taoiseach Micheál Martin confirmed that the return of indoor dining will be delayed, following recommendations by NPHET.
He stated the reopening of indoor dining could come sooner for people who are vaccinated against Covid-19 as a new system to prove people have received the jab is currently being drawn up.
Government has said it will devise an implementation plan by 19 July.
According to the Independent, at a briefing on Wednesday, the CMO said the recommendation to develop a vaccine pass system to enable indoor hospitality to take place was to avoid postponing its return for a “significant number of months”.
Holohan said that with the vaccine pass proposal, NPHET wanted to make sure economic activity could resume as fast as possible.
He added that Ireland is now facing a “substantial surge” on account of the Delta variant of Covid-19 but that NPHET was exploring methods to continue reopening parts of the economy and offer a benefit to those vaccinated.
During the briefing, the CMO provided background to TDs regarding NPHET’s recommendations to the government.
He stated that the Delta variant now accounted for 50% of all Covid-19 cases and that this had doubled in a week.
While the total number of cases hasn’t changed, the CMO said there is evidence it is starting to rise and that increases in cases will not be over by the end of September.
On Tuesday, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said the government “do not know” how long the Delta wave will last or how bad it will be.
According to the Tánaiste, NPHET presented government on Monday with four scenarios, including an optimistic scenario and a pessimistic scenario.
“If you take the optimistic one, we’re talking about maybe 165 deaths over the next three months, roughly one or two a day,” Varadkar said.
“On the other hand, the pessimistic scenario is totally different – over 2,000 deaths occurring over a three-month period, a wave as severe as any that we’ve experienced to date with hospitals coming under enormous pressure and ICUs in particular.”
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