Kenneth Fox
An additional 452 new cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed this evening by the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet).
They said there are currently 14 people in ICU with Covid and a further 44 people in hospital with the virus.
As always they said daily case numbers may change due to future data review, validation and update.
As of midnight, Tuesday 29th June, we are reporting 452* confirmed cases of #COVID19.
14 in ICU. 44 in hospital.
*Daily case numbers may change due to future data review, validation and update.— Department of Health (@roinnslainte) June 30, 2021
It comes as Tánaiste Leo Varadkar has suggested the Covid digital travel certificate could be adopted for indoor dining.
Mr Varadkar pointed out that the Government had taken a decision months ago not to go the route of a vaccination passport, but they would now have to see if the digital travel cert mechanism could be adapted for indoors. “This could be the pathway to do that.”
Vardkar said that a digital cert of vaccination or ‘corona pass’ meant “potentially never having to lock down again”.
Speaking on Newstalk Breakfast, Mr Varadkar said that the ‘pause’ until July 19th meant there were now three weeks to develop plans for the ‘corona pass’ which could pave the way for indoor hospitality, indoor sports and live events even if there was “a Delta wave”.
“That’s one of the things that maybe isn’t fully understood about the decision and advice from yesterday. Option one is to not reopen indoors until we have herd immunity — and who really knows when that will be. We’d hoped it would be September, but maybe not.
Delta variant
Meanwhile,a senior member of the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) has outlined the group's “reasons of concern” over the Delta variant of Covid-19.
Medical virologist Dr Cillian De Gascun was speaking after Government accepted Nphet's advice to delay the return of indoor dining and limit it to those who are fully vaccinated.
Dr De Gascun, the director of UCD’s National Virus Reference Laboratory, did not directly reference controversy over the decision but he posted a lengthy Twitter thread on the dangers posed by the Delta variant.
This dramatic increase in the proportion of Delta over the last two weeks will almost certainly lead to Delta dominance by the middle of July, with a consequent increase in case numbers, hospitalisations, and mortality in the following weeks 12/n
— Cillian De Gascun (@CillianDeGascun) June 29, 2021
He said: “As any new variant emerges, there are three main issues that we consider: transmissibility; infection severity; and impact on pre-existing immunity (reinfection risk) and vaccine effectiveness.
“Firstly, based on available evidence, the Delta variant appears to be between 40 per cent and 60 per cent more transmissible than the Alpha variant, which has been dominant in Ireland for the last five months.”
He added: “When compared with Alpha, Delta exhibits an increased growth rate, an increased secondary attack rate, increased household transmission, and laboratory evidence of increased replication in biological systems that model the human airway."
