Republic of Ireland ‘will not enter full lockdown again’
The Republic of Ireland will not enter full lockdown again even if there is a second wave of the virus, the country’s chief medical officer says – despite EU health experts warning that further lockdowns could be needed.
Dr Tony Holohan says that as the country knows more about Covid-19 than it did in March, when restrictions were first introduced, it will be able to take a different course.
“I wouldn’t be anticipating at this point in time that we would move back to blanket closures in the way we did in March,” he told Irish state broadcaster RTE.
“People understand more about the disease, the risks and how they can protect themselves when it comes to hand hygiene and respiratory etiquette.
“If a resurgence of the disease happened or a second wave, we would know what specific measures to take, having done our work proactively.”
The Republic of Ireland, which has seen more than 25,000 cases and 1,703 fatalities, began the second phase of removing restrictions on Monday.
