A new plan to manage Covid-19 in the Republic will see a different colour-coded status given to an area depending on its levels of the virus.
The Government’s new medium term plan, agreed at a Cabinet sub-committee yesterday, will aim to get the country into a “status blue” period where the virus is suppressed.
The new labels will be akin to weather warnings, as the Government intends to move away from the current “phased” approach to reopening the country according to the Irish Times.
It would be useful if this was seen by the public as something akin to a weather warning, that people instinctively knew what they can do depending on the colour.
However, this blue status will only come into effect when vaccinations or a breakthrough medical treatment becomes available, with other codes including red, orange and yellow.
“It would be useful if this was seen by the public as something akin to a weather warning, that people instinctively knew what they can do depending on the colour,” a source told the Irish Times.
“The reason green is not included in there is because green almost says that everything is okay and things can go on as normal, which for now is not the case.”
Economic support
The Cabinet sub-committee meeting saw Ministers discuss plans for living with Covid-19 in Ireland for the next nine months, with sources telling the paper that the approach adopted in New Zealand to fully eliminate the virus will not be adopted here.
It emerged yesterday that a programme of serial testing at meat plants and direct provision centres was agreed at the meeting.
Economic measures for the three Midlands counties of Kildare, Laois and Offaly currently in local lockdowns were also discussed.
The committee is set to meet again next week, where work will begin on a medium-term plan to keep the economy as open as possible while keeping community transmission low.
It comes as the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) are due to meet later today to discuss the recent spike in the Midlands and the clusters in meat factories.
The Government’s plans to ban non-essential travel from countries with high rates of the virus is also likely to be on the agenda.
