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Decision on restrictions will be made next week says Taoiseach
Dan Grennan
The Taoiseach has said that COVID-19 restrictions and social distancing is working as the 'rate of increase is decreasing'.
However, Mr Varadkar said that more work needs to be done to further lower the rate of increase to give the health service the best chance at dealing with the peak of the crisis.
The Taoiseach said that there will be an update on the restrictions — whether they will be extended beyond Easter Sunday or relaxed — 'towards the end of next week' when the data will show if the current restrictions are working.
The Taoiseach has said that COVID-19 restrictions and social distancing is working as the 'rate of increase is decreasing'. Pic: Leah Farrell/RollingNews.ie
The Taoiseach said: 'In terms of the cabinet sub committee meeting, we received an update on the latest modeling from the chief medical officer, who was back to work today.
'He tells us that there is some progress — some real progress has been made in flattening the curve. So we're very grateful to the Irish public for cooperating with quarantine, cooperating with social isolation and social distancing over the last few weeks,' said Mr Varadkar.
'The rate of increase is decreasing. At the start of [the crisis], the rate of increase was roughly 33% per day. That's in around 10% per day at the moment, a slight uptick today, an increase of about 11.6%, but I'd caution against reading anything into any individual day, or any one day's data.
'But the progress that we've made is definitely not enough. We need to get that rate of increase down to about 5% or less in order to give us the assurance that we need that we will have the adequate capacity in our health service to deal with increasing number of cases,' said the Taoiseach.
'We will have a better idea, towards the end of next week, as to how we're getting on because we know that whether the most recent restrictions are making a difference.
President Michael D Higgins has paid tribute to the people working in medicine, healthcare and retail as he urged Irish people to stay at home. Pic: The Tommy Tiernan Show/RTE One
'We'll be able to make a decision towards the end of next week as to whether those restrictions need to be extended, whether they can be relaxed in any way, or whether they can be refined in any way, but really we'll need to see the numbers over the next couple of days,' concluded the Toaiseach.
Meanwhile, President Michael D Higgins has paid tribute to the people working in medicine, healthcare and retail as he urged Irish people to stay at home.
In a special address made on Irish radio stations, the president acknowledged that the last few days have been difficult for everyone, especially those who have lost their loved one.
A nationwide 'Community Call' network has been launched by Tanaiste Simon Coveney and Minister for Rural and Community Development Michael Ring, who said that 'community will get us through' the COVID-19 pandemic.
A nationwide 'Community Call' network has been launched by Tanaiste Simon Coveney Pic: Sam Boal/RollingNews.ie
The initiative is a partnership between national government, local government and community and voluntary sectors that will coordinate community activity, direct assistance and, when needed, it will assemble a volunteering response.
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