Poll shows public divided down the middle on additional restrictions

The public is evenly split on further restrictions, with 44 per cent opposed to additional measures and 41 per cent supporting them, according to new polling data.

Over the past week, there has been an uptick in people adhering to public health measures such as social distancing and staying at home, the survey for the Department of Health shows. However, there was a drop in adherence to measures among younger people.

Some 51 per cent of the population think the Government response to the pandemic is appropriate and 35 per cent say it is insufficient, while the proportion who say it is too extreme fell from 21 per cent to 14 per cent in a week.

One person in five says Ireland is trying to return to normal too slowly, but 38 per cent believe this is happening too fast and 42 per cent say it is happening at the right pace.

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Another 3,887 cases of Covid-19 were reported in the State on Tuesday.

As of 8am on Tuesday, there were 493 Covid-19 patients in hospital, of which 109 were in ICU.

Chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan said the results indicated that approximately 14 per cent of the State’s new infections were now due to the new Omicron variant.

The Government has asked the health service to provide a revised Covid-19 booster plan that will immediately accelerate the level of vaccinations within days.

Redeployed

This will involve longer opening hours at centres, new satellite centres and staff being redeployed from across the public sector.

There were queues at a number of vaccination centres again on Tuesday, including at the National Show Centre in Swords, Co Dublin. Most people said they were waiting between 90 minutes and two hours to get their booster.

In Northern Ireland, four further patients who had previously tested positive for Covid-19 have died, the North’s department of health said, and another 1,581 cases of the virus were reported.

Also on Tuesday, the Government announced that Ireland had increased its Covid-19 vaccine donation commitments to a further three million vaccine doses.

This is in addition to the Government’s previous commitment to donate two million vaccines through international agencies.

“While our national vaccination programme continues with the rollout and acceleration of the booster programme, it is vitally important that we ensure that vaccines reach those who need them most across the globe,” Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly said.

“Our donated vaccines have already been delivered to a number of countries including Uganda, Nigeria and Indonesia. The latest consignment will shortly arrive in Ghana and further doses will be delivered to lower-income countries over the coming weeks and months.”

Antiviral pill

Meanwhile, Pfizer on Tuesday said final analysis of its antiviral Covid-19 pill still showed near 90 per cent efficacy in preventing hospitalisations and deaths in high-risk patients, and recent lab data suggests the drug retains its effectiveness against the fast-spreading Omicron variant of coronavirus.

The US drugmaker last month said the oral medicine was about 89 per cent effective in preventing hospitalisations or deaths when compared to placebos, based on interim results in about 1,200 people. The data disclosed on Tuesday includes an additional 1,000 people.

Nobody in the trial who received the Pfizer treatment died, compared with 12 deaths among placebo recipients.

The Pfizer pills are taken with the older antiviral ritonavir every 12 hours for five days beginning shortly after onset of symptoms. If authorised, the treatment will be sold as Paxlovid.

Pfizer also released early data from a second clinical trial showing that the treatment reduced hospitalisations by about 70 per cent in about 600 standard-risk adults.

– Additional reporting: Reuters