James Cox
A further 348 Covid-19 cases have been confirmed in the Republic of Ireland today, with a decision on the next phase of reopening set for next week amid concerns over the Delta variant.
There are 41 Covid-19 patients in hospital and 13 in ICU.
A “final call” on whether there can be further easing of restrictions on July 5th, cannot be made until next week, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar has said.
Speaking in Dublin today, he said the Government can only make a decision once it has been briefed by the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) as to where we are with Covid-19.
Indoor dining
Mr Varadkar said that as things stand, the plan is still to ease restrictions on July 5th, which will see a return to indoor dining and drinking, allow 50 people allowed attend a wedding and permit four households to gather indoors.
The Fine Gael leader said, as with all other recent announcements, a final call can only be made closer to the time.
The North's Public Health Agency (PHA) has said there were 612 confirmed or probable cases of the Delta variant of Covid-19 detected throughout all 11 local council areas in Northern Ireland by Tuesday.
Delta variant
The PHA said that around half of Covid-19 positive cases sampled in Northern Ireland are now indicative of the Delta variant.
The variant was first identified in India, and is now dominant in the UK.
Up to Monday, a total of 449 people were tested in Omagh and 689 were tested in Ballymoney after a number of probable cases were identified in the two towns.
Early analysis of results shows a total of 31 positive cases of Covid were detected, the PHA said.
All positive cases have been contacted and advised to self-isolate in line with public health guidance.
