HSE reviews visitor ban and serial testing in nursing homes
With most staff and residents vaccinated, the health service is expected to make new proposals to Nphet for this sector
Colin Murphy: In law, we are closer to house arrest than a 5km limit
Covid-19 restrictions say you should not leave home at all ‘without reasonable excuse’ – a rule that‘s broader than it need be, is widely misunderstood and of dubious effectiveness
Potential use of rapid antigen tests in workplaces and schools to be assessed
Speedy tests for virus could be used alongside the state’s PCR testing programme as country aims for safer eventual reopening
Russia willing to share access to Sputnik V vaccine with Ireland
Vaccine found to be 91.6 per cent effective in symptomatic patients, but Irish officials not yet ready to go outside EU’s vaccine programme
Future tense: the nation’s small businesses fear what comes next
Even with the help of the CRSS and other state aids, businesses are at breaking point – and while compliance is still high, there is a collective exhaustion and a worry that for many, reopening may never arrive
Covid-19 here for the long haul, says expert
Coronavirus could also be the precursor to even more virulent and dangerous pandemics, according to disease expert Ian Lipkin
‘Already too late’ to prevent new Covid-19 strains in Ireland
Public health expert says weak attempts at containment may have allowed the variants in before stricter quarantine laws are enforced
Vaccine rollout could reach most vulnerable by end of April
Analysis of the current pace of administering the Covid-19 vaccines and an anticipated increase in supply encourages an optimistic outlook
Vaccination of community pharmacists to start this week
Move could result in vaccines being administered to the public at local pharmacies by the end of March
HSE to GPs: administer leftover vaccine doses to patients’ spouses
GPs have been given guidance on who is next in line to receive vaccination, to prevent extra doses spoiling
Tony O’Brien: The government is emerging at last from its quarantine denial
Mass travel, from the influx of Italian fans after a cancelled rugby match, to Cheltenham, to holiday makers returning from Spain and the ‘meaningful Christmas’ shows a leadership that has been unwilling to learn from cruel experience
Hope springs eternal: HSE plans vaccine surge in April
A last-minute adjustment to ditch the AstraZeneca jab for the over-70s brought another unwelcome delay to the vaccine rollout, but GPs say steady work is being done behind the scenes
Breakdown of HSE’s €1.6 billion war chest to fight Covid-19
The National Service Plan shows that €200m of the €1.6bn allocated to fighting the pandemic is to be spent on the rollout of vaccinations
Scally warns Ireland to put Britain on red travel list
The medical expert warns mandatory quarantine is vital to protect our national vaccine strategy from new Covid-19 variant
Business support schemes will be extended to July in new Covid plan
Taoiseach will give no consideration to reopening hospitality before mid-summer, while chief executive of restaurants association says businesses are being pushed ‘closer to financial ruin and meltdown’
Early data shows that Britain’s vaccine programme is working
The over-80s benefited most with the weekly average for new cases falling more
Comment: Ireland and EU should support a global patent waiver on Covid-19 medical tools
Since the beginning of the pandemic, the need to ensure equal global access to vaccines has been widely acknowledged by governments, yet little in the way of meaningful action has been achieved to date
Analysis: Will latest ‘game-changing’ vaccine stand up to new variants?
Despite potential risks to efficacy from new strains of the virus, experts say vaccines will still protect people from becoming seriously ill with Covid-19
Johnson & Johnson vaccine could be approved by mid-March
Ireland would be entitled to 2.2 million doses of the single-shot vaccine
Top civil servants warned of ‘deep scarring effects’ of lockdowns
Officials at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform reported that the lifting of level 5 restrictions before Christmas did not have an ‘immediate and positive impact on the labour market’