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7 things we learned from the Covid-19 briefings

Updated / Thursday, 1 Jul 2021 18:58
There has been no recommendation from NPHET to roll back on any of the Covid-19 restrictions which have been eased so far, Dr Tony Holohan said
There has been no recommendation from NPHET to roll back on any of the Covid-19 restrictions which have been eased so far, Dr Tony Holohan said

Both the National Public Health Emergency Team and the HSE held press briefings this afternoon, two days after the Government announced a delay in the reopening of indoor hospitality amid concerns over the Delta variant.

Here are seven things we learned from the briefings:

1. Ireland to experience 'very significant transmission' of Delta variant

The Chief Medical Officer has cautioned that we are going to see "very significant transmission" of the Delta variant of Covid-19.

Dr Tony Holohan pointed to evidence from Scotland and England to indicate the spread of the variant.

Dr Holohan said the variant is going to become the dominant strain across Europe, saying that we are not going to stop this happening and it is a case of "when rather than if".

He said that efforts have been made to slow the spread of the Delta variant down as much as possible while people are vaccinated.

"We think we have slowed it down somewhat," he said, but added that while the levels of the variant remained stable for a number of weeks they have now begun to increase.

It has increased from being 27/28% of cases to 55% of cases in the space of a week, he said.

2. Increase in transmission of Covid-19 expected

The Deputy Chief Medical Officer said there are concerns across Europe about growing levels.

Speaking at the start of the National Public Health Emergency Team briefing, Dr Ronan Glynn said that the European Centre for Disease Control is saying "if we are not careful we will see sharp increases in new infections, hospitalisations and deaths over the coming weeks and months.

He said this was echoed by the World Health Organization's regional director for Europe Hans Kluge, who said: "All of the conditions are now in place for a further wave before the autumn with excess hospitalisations and deaths."

When asked if we are entering a fourth wave of Covid-19, Chief Medical Office Dr Tony Holohan said NPHET think they are seeing some changes in transmission that are going to lead us into another wave of infections

"Our full expectation is that we are going to see an increase in transmission here," he said.

"All of the rest of western Europe is going to experience, maybe at slightly different times, a similar thing over the course of the weeks and months."

3. Changing vaccine advice does not make a difference in short term - Nolan

The head of NPHET's Epidemiological Modelling Team has said that the changing advice from the National Immunisation Advisory Committee regarding vaccines to different cohorts "doesn't make a great deal of difference" in the short term.

Earlier this week NIAC said the AstraZeneca and Janssen (Johnson & Johnson) vaccines could be given to people under the age of 50, while the interval between AstraZeneca doses could be reduced to four weeks.

Prof Nolan told the NPHET briefing that the members did not know last week or at the weekend what the NIAC advice, which was delivered earlier this week, would be but they did "run some different scenarios" about different vaccine delivery schedules to difference cohorts.

"What that told us was that wouldn't make a lot of difference in July and August, but could make a difference in September," he said.

When tackling exponential growth, as predicted in some modelling, the important thing is to act early, he said.

"The truth is that it doesn't make a great deal of difference in the short term," he said of the change of NIAC vaccination advice, adding that the "full range of scenarios" informed the nature of NPHET's advice to Government.

4. No recommendation to roll back any measures

There has been no recommendation from NPHET to roll back on any of the Covid-19 restrictions which have been eased so far, Dr Holohan said.

He said the recommendation to limit indoor dining to those who are vaccinated when they reopen allows for the "further opening of society, albeit focused on people who are vaccinated".

Dr Holohan said it was "probably not" likely that new restrictions would be introduced later in the year to combat the Delta variant of Covid-19, but didn't rule it out.

Asked if it was likely that more restrictions were likely, he said: "Likely? Probably not, but I wouldn't rule it out. What we need to do now is stay the course with what we’re doing, encourage people to keep up the very high standards of behaviour in terms of compliance... It’s the same activities."

Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr Ronan Glynn said that a headline that NPHET wasn't ruling out new restrictions "would have been true any day since March 2020," and that what they wanted people to do was continue to protect themselves and their families, "and do all the things they have been doing".

5. 'No difficulty' over Govt trying to validate use of antigen testing

Dr Tony Holohan said that he has "no difficulty" with the Government trying to find a way of "validating the use" of antigen testing.

He said he has a job to do which he does to the best of his ability, and to give clear advice.

"I'll continue to do that. If somebody is able to show me evidence that my advice is wrong, I'm happy to look at it," he said.

Dr Holohan said if the evidence is forthcoming here or internationally that antigen testing is effective in areas where it is not being used, "then obviously we'll apply that evidence," he said.

6. Outbreaks seeding easily across range of settings

Public health doctors are telling NPHET that the current situation "is not like previously", as outbreaks are easily seeding across a range of settings, Dr Glynn said.

Highlighting 14-day incidence rates at a local electoral area level, he said there have been "very significant increases" in some regions.

Dr Glynn said areas such as Dungarvan, Sligo and Athlone have seen large outbreaks.

He said outbreaks are not confined to one workplace, family or hospitality venue, but are spreading "much easier" than previously seen.

"Once it gets into a community it's spreading much easier than they've seen previously," he added.

7. Vaccine portal set to open for those aged 30-34

The HSE hopes to open the Covid-19 vaccination portal for people aged 30 to 34 next week, HSE chief executive Paul Reid has said.

It comes as the HSE submitted its revised vaccine plan today to Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly.

It is version 31, according to Mr Reid, who was speaking at the HSE briefing at Dr Steevens' Hospital earlier this afternoon.

He said it was a very ambitious plan and the aim is to expedite it quickly.

Under the changes, 16-49 year olds should preferably be offered an mMRNA vaccine - either Pfizer or Moderna.

However if those aged 18-49 wish to be vaccinated earlier, they can be offered an AstraZeneca or Janssen vaccine.

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