Public health officials have urged people to halve their social contacts as the risk of meeting an infected person is higher than at any time in the pandemic.

But the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) is not recommending fresh restrictions for now and says it hopes changes in public behaviour will curb the current wave of cases.

Chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan urged people to try to reduce their contacts by half “instead of going out twice in the week, go out once; or instead of having 10 people over, have just five”.

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“A pandemic can be a long and exhausting experience, and I am aware that we are all tired of this virus – but the reality is that the virus is here and is circulating at too high a level.

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“The virus moves when we are in close contact with a Covid-positive person. This person could be a family member, a friend, a colleague or a stranger. It could be someone with no symptoms who is fully vaccinated.”

Dy Holohan acknowledged that Nphet’s previous exhortation to people to limit their social activities has not resulted in any reductions but said even a small improvement across the population might be sufficient to get the virus back under control.

A further 2,975 confirmed cases were reported on Wednesday. The 14-day incidence now stands at 952 cases per 100,000 people, but in 11 counties it is over 1,000.

The seven-day average has doubled over the past fortnight. Last week’s case count was the third highest of the pandemic, behind the first two weeks of this year.

The number of Covid-19 patients in hospital was 551, including 89 who were in ICU.

‘Hopeful and optimistic’

Cases “took off” in September and there was a further significant acceleration in the last week of October, deputy chief medical officer Dr Ronan Glynn said.

They are now rising across all counties and all age groups, aside from over-85s. Positivity is also rising across all age groups.

Mr Glynn said a fall in the number of cases among over-80s was a positive benefit of the booster programme; by October 11th, 50 per cent of people in this group had received a booster and case numbers started falling.

He said he was “hopeful and optimistic” of further positive benefit as more people receive boosters.

With cases rising 57 per cent in a week, Ireland now has the eighth highest incidence in the EU. Our incidence is also higher than that in England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland.

Dr Glynn said that given the current “force of infection” and the level of socialisation, the future trajectory of the disease remains uncertain and there is “no guarantee” it will change in the coming weeks.

“We can’t give any comfort that either cases or ICU numbers will turn over the next number of weeks,” he said.

He said there was “no one simple answer” to explain the nature and location of the spread of the disease, though public health officials highlight transmission from workplace social gatherings, weddings, among vulnerable group and through socialisation.

Currently, “you’re probably at a higher risk of being in the presence of an infected person than at any point in the pandemic,” he noted. People have “disregarded” mitigation measures as well as falsely assuming “people you now” pose less of a risk.

No restrictions

Dr Holohan said Nphet was not planning to recommend the reimposition of restrictions “at this point in time”.

Some European countries were in an alarming situation with rising case numbers and low levels of vaccination. Ireland has a high level of vaccination and is “not nearly the kind of situation of other countries being forced back down this road”.

Nphet’s current “middle-ground focus” was on redoubling collective public health efforts, getting people boosted and ensuring higher compliance with measures in specific sectors.

He said a lot of people were listening to these messages “but maybe not enough”.

Asked when people with chronic disease will be included in the booster programme, Prof Karina Butler, chair of the National Immunisation Advisory Committee said many people in this category would already be “captured” through boosters for over-60s and the immuno-comromised.

“Data is coming out all the time, meaning we can steer our path through this as safely as possible.”

Meanwhile, monitoring data shows about one-third of people say they were not asked to show their Covid-19 certs when entering a restaurant, pub or cafe.

Asked about Christmas parties, Dr Holohan said society remained open, but he urged individuals and employers to make “informed risk mitigation choices” and to cut back on discretionary activities.

“Maybe that doesn’t have to happen at the scale that was planned, or can be scaled back.”

Nphet is looking at operationalising the use of antigen testing in school outbreaks but is not contemplating the widespread use of this testing across schools, Dr Holohan said.

He urged unvaccinated soccer fans to stay away from the forthcoming Ireland-Portugal international.

Cert checks

Meanwhile, most customers in bars and restaurants want their Covid certs to be checked, the chief clinical officer of the Health Service Executive (HSE), Dr Colm Henry, has said.

It was frustrating some premises were not checking certs as people were willing to comply, Dr Henry said, adding this had been seen in the past when the smoking ban was introduced.

“When it [the smoking ban] came in years ago, nobody really believed it would happen, but it did, and I really believe we can do better here, and I think people who go to restaurants and go to pubs, they want to see this implemented too,” he told Newstalk Breakfast.

Dr Henry said he was frustrated that some premises were not checking certs.

During the pandemic the Irish people had shown they were prepared to “rally together” with a sense of solidarity not just to protect themselves and their families but also to do the right thing, he said.

“Since October 22nd, we carried out just short of 2,500 checks. Seventy per cent were compliant, seven per cent were not compliant at all, and 23 percent required additional measures. So, it is a mixed message and we can do better.”

School testing

Meanwhile, the general secretary of the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO), John Boyle, has welcomed plans to introduce antigen testing in schools and called for such a scheme to be introduced straight away.

Speaking on RTÉ radio’s News at One, Mr Boyle said antigen testing should be used as a means of keeping children in school rather than for screening.

“We already have 6,144 children of primary school-going age with Covid-19 and off classes,” he said.

At present 450 children per day were being diagnosed with the virus, he said, so action was needed immediately.

An implementation date for antigen testing had not yet been identified, said Mr Boyle: “We can’t afford to wait to have the numbers double again, they already doubled last month.”

The INTO wanted to see schools remain open safely and it had been agreed that there would be no face-to-face parent-teacher meetings. “We don’t need to see more Covid coming into schools.”