Breakfast Briefing

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New Covid-19 restrictions could be introduced earlier than planned under proposals being discussed by cabinet this morning.

NPHET's advice last week suggested closing the hospitality sector, limiting household visits and banning inter-county travel on December 28th.

But that date might be brought forward after a warning from the Chief Medical Officer that the situation is rapidly getting worse.

Ireland is now in a third wave of the coronavirus pandemic, public health experts have said, with people being urged to stay at home and stop socialising.

Prof Gerry Killeen, AXA Research Chair in Applied Pathogen Ecology at at University College Cork, who is a member of  the Independent Scientific Advocacy Group, joined Shane Beatty on Breakfast Briefing:

 

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Flights from Britain have been banned until at least midnight tomorrow.

Only ferry crossings for freight will be allowed, after a new strain of Covid-19 in England has shown to 70 times more transmissible.

The EU member states will meet today to discuss its response to the variant.

London-based journalist Vincent McAviney joined Shane Beatty on Breakfast Briefing:

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The National Public Health Emergency Team has recommended changes to the easing of coronavirus restrictions before the New Year.

From this morning, up to three households can gather indoors and you can travel outside your county.

Those measures were due to stay in place until the 6th of January.

But NPHET wants the household mixing limit reduced to two before the New Year - and new restrictions for the hospitality sector.

The advice comes as 484 new cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed and 3 additional deaths.

Leading icu specialist Dr. Catherine Motherway, is a Consultant in Intensive Care Medicine at University Hospital Limerick and joined Shane Beatty on Breakfast Briefing:

 

 

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40 percent of people over the age of 75 don't access the internet.

New data from the TILDA study at Trinity College Dublin also shows 6 in 10 people in the age group don't have a smartphone or a tablet.

The report, which looked at the health and habits of the older population pre-Covid, also finds that half regularly use of five or more medications.

Lead investigator, Professor Rose Anne Kenny, joined Shane Beatty on Breakfast Briefing:

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