No guarantee that Covid restrictions won’t return, says Taoiseach

He said the rise in Covid case numbers were "very concerning".

Taoiseach Michéal Martin has said there is no guarantee that Covid restrictions won't return. The comments were made today during an interview on RTÉ Radio 1 on Tuesday morning (2 November). "The model we received from NPHET was looking at a peak [in cases] towards the end of November", Martin said. "It is very concerning, the high rises in Covid-19 cases", he added. The Taoiseach commended the effort the public had put in to this point, citing the 92% of the population that are vaccinated, and the increased usage of antigen testing. "Collectively if we continue to work to just be cautious in terms of our individual behaviours, we can avoid the need to return or any negative, backward progress. "We've learned from Covid-19 that no one can guarantee anything in respect of it, and we have to take it seriously. The vaccines work. We are in a different position to the one we were at last year." Martin's sentiment are in line with other prominent health care figures in the past few weeks. HSE CEO Paul Reid spoke about his concern on rising case numbers, and how he anticipated that this winter would be "one of the worst winters we’ve faced in many years". Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly gave a stark warning to Ministers in October about the possibility of high case numbers leading into the winter months. Eamon Ryan did not believe that restrictions would be reintroduced, but reminded people to "be cognisant that the virus is out there at scale and for all our interests it's best to put simple measures in place, but I don't think it'll be a returning on restrictions".