A leading virologist has warned of a "scaremongering element" linked to the emergence of a new coronavirus variant and stressed the original strain remains "highly transmissible".
Dr Gerald Barry said it was "purely speculative" to link a spike in cases over the weekend to the new strain.
Dr Barry said while he accepted the introduction of stringent measures was necessary to "get a handle" on the fresh outbreak, there were major gaps in data around the extent of transmission rates - which British health secretary Matt Hancock branded "out of control" at over 70 per cent.
And with four potential cases in Northern Ireland now linked to the new mutant strain, the assistant professor of virology at University College Dublin (UCD) said it was highly likely it would be found in the Republic.
"There's constant movement between Great Britain and NI, and between NI and the Republic. But the UK in fairness are probably more ahead of any other country in terms of sequencing genomes to a level that almost no-one in the world is doing. So it was almost inevitable the UK would pick it up ahead of anyone else. There's no doubt that over the next few days more countries will report this variant," Dr Barry said.
But he urged caution and said that it was "purely speculative" to link a spike in cases over the weekend to the new strain - and that an increase in people socialising was the most likely contributory factor.
Scientists have confirmed the variant emerged in September.
Analysis: Questions over scaremongering legitimate after months of mixed messaging from politicians
"There has been some more data in recent days. But effectively what you're dealing with is a clash of data from the scientific world and the political/media world," Dr Barry said.
"The scientific world tends to be very cautious to draw any firm conclusions until the data is there.
"The challenge with that is, there is an element of scaremongering because you are giving people a message that may not be absolutely accurate and may not have any impact on our day-to-day lives. But immediately people have this sense of fear. They hear that a virus is 70 per cent more transmissible and think we're back to square one.
"I'm not saying 70 per cent is wrong but what I would say, as a scientist, is that there is a lack of evidence to put a really firm hard number on it. It's based on lots of correlating factors. What I struggle a little with is why has there been this panic when there should have been these stricter measures in place beforehand. We've been dealing with a highly contagious virus since March. This new variant is highly transmissible but the older version is also highly transmissible."
Fears have been expressed about the effectiveness of the cornavirus vaccine on the new strain but Dr Barry said there was "absolutely no evidence" it won't work.
"Unfortunately when you have one of the most senior politicians in the country telling everyone we're out of control, people are going to be frightened and speculate on social media. Every little doubt will be amplified," he added.
"My take home message is: there is a new variant, we need to understand it and we need to be cautious. But, regardless of whatever variant we're dealing with, this virus kills people and we should be ultra cautious all the time."
