“We have to learn to live with the threat of it.”
Acting Chief Medical Officer Ronan Glynn has warned that completely eliminating Covid-19 is not an option for Ireland, as things stand.
Speaking at a press briefing on Monday night, Glynn said: “Unfortunately I don’t believe that it’s possible to eliminate this disease from our country as things currently stand – we have to learn to live with the threat of it.
“So we want to protect the ability for children to congregate in schools, protect the ability for people to go and to use our healthcare services and to protect the most vulnerable across the society, but we can only do that if we can all act collectively together”.
A number of experts have been calling on the Irish government to adapt a policy that attempts to eliminate Covid-19 entirely, though Glynn has confirmed that this is not a realistic option as things currently stand.
He also said that he is able to sum up Ireland’s current Covid strategy in three words – “protect our priorities”.
Dr Ronan Glynn: "Unfortunately I don't believe that it's possible to eliminate this disease from our country as things currently stand – we have to learn to live with the threat of it" | https://t.co/nE1U19gxBU pic.twitter.com/LaxpySOabE
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) August 24, 2020
Monday’s briefing saw the Department of Health report 147 new cases of Covid-19, bringing the number of confirmed cases to 28,116. No new deaths were reported.
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