LATEST: ‘Almost impossible to stop’ – Taoiseach rules out mandatory mask wearing as almost 12,000 new cases of virus confirmed
Taoiseach Micheál Martin has ruled out a return to mandatory mask wearing in indoor settings as almost 12,000 new cases of the virus were confirmed today.
Despite calls from the nurses and consultants for a temporary return of measures to ease pressure on our crisis-hit hospitals, Mr Martin said: “The view is, from public health, that this [Covid] variant is so transmissible that it’s almost impossible to stop transmission.”
The Taoiseach was speaking to RTÉ earlier today before the Department of Health confirmed there have been 5,252 new PCR-confirmed cases of Covid-19, while 6,489 more people have registered a positive antigen test.
However, these are only beleved to be a fraction of the Covid-19 cases being recorded daily.
This morning, there were 1,535 Covid patients in hospital, with 58 in ICU.
Around half of patients in hospital with the disease are there for other reasons, but tested positive for the virus.
Earlier, organisations representing doctors and nurses have called on the Government to reintroduce some measures to tackle the spread of the virus.
