In a statement this afternoon, the Taoiseach said that already exhausted healthcare workers are now facing a tsunami of infections worse than the first wave, and it is this reason why further restrictions must be rolled out. As of now 3,679 people across our island have lost their lives to the disease. Hospitals across this island and continent are under siege from the disease, Mr Martin said.
The Taoiseach says we now have an even more infectious variant of coronavirus in our midst, pointing out UK research indicates the new strain of Covid-19 increases the R number between 0.4 and 0.7. This can lead to growth way beyond worst case scenarios.
Government confirms raft of new restrictions including school closures, scrapping of construction and further blow to retail
Construction work, which was allowed continue in the previous Level Five lockdown, will now be scrapped from end of business on Friday
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Pandemic Unemployment Payment extended until March 31, Government confirms
Extensions have also been granted to the Employee Wage Subsidy Scheme and the CRSS scheme for businesses
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With regard to extending financial supports to businesses, Mr Martin said: âWe could still have a substantial degree of Covid in the community by the end of March, so we will continue to roll on EWSS, and also the Minister for Finance is looking at the CRSS scheme in terms of its application to hotels because we have to take into account the fact that through December they couldnât realise too much of the potential of the reopening because we had restrictions on intercounty travel and household restrictions.â
Representatives for the hospitality sector have called on the Government to increase the Covid-19 Restrictions Support Scheme (CRSS) payment to help businesses survive the early part of next year.