Ireland

Coronavirus: Death toll in the Republic jumps by 49 as roadmap to ease restrictions is discussed

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has paid tribute in the Dáil to Irish coronavirus victims. Picture by Leon Farrell
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has paid tribute in the Dáil to Irish coronavirus victims. Picture by Leon Farrell Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has paid tribute in the Dáil to Irish coronavirus victims. Picture by Leon Farrell

The death toll in the Republic of Ireland for people with coronavirus has risen to 769 after a further 49 deaths were notified to the Department of Health.

There have been 631 new confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Ireland, taking the total to 16,671 since the outbreak began.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said that a roadmap to easing restrictions is not yet completed.

“It will be completed and agreed and shared with the Irish public before the May 5th,” he added.

“I don’t want to say that there’s X number of steps now and then tell you it’s a different thing in a few weeks time.

Read More: Coronavirus: Death toll rises to 250 in Northern IrelandOpens in new window ]

“But I think it would be fair to say that among the last things that will be returned to normal are major gatherings where you have a lot of people gathering together in a way that’s hard to social distance, in a way that’s hard to keep people apart by two metres.

“I suppose there are things that are most likely to come last.

“That’s not particular to alcohol, it could be any mass gatherings.”

He added that the partners of healthcare workers will be provided with paid leave to help with childcare.

Mr Varadkar said that while providing childcare to health workers was an ongoing issue, a proposal was considered by the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) on Tuesday which has two aspects.

He said: “One is providing paid leave to partners who work in the public sector but don’t work in the healthcare sector – providing paid leave to them to allow them to stay at home or provide childcare.

“That has been approved by NPHET so we can try and action that now over the next couple of weeks.

“The difficulty is though that really only works where it’s a public sector household.

“It isn’t an adequate answer for those who either are public healthcare workers or one is in the private sector and one is in the public sector.

“So the second piece, which NPHET still has reservations about, is using child minders to go into people’s homes. But that’s now going to be considered as something that perhaps could kick in on May 5 as part of a general easing of restrictions.

“But they’re not happy for us to do right now.”