Health

Open Orphan founder says Covid-19 ‘is over’

Cathal Friel, the head of the pharma firm, has contradicted official advice to isolate, and says the virus should now be treated like a cold or flu

Cathal Friel, co-founder of Open Orphan: ‘The Covid-19 pandemic is over.’ Picture: Fergal Phillips

The Covid-19 pandemic is officially over, and people should treat the disease as similar to the common cold this winter, the head of an Irish pharmaceutical company has said.

Cathal Friel, the executive chair and co-founder of Open Orphan and Poolbeg Pharma, said the government should not “overreact” this winter when Covid-19 cases begin to peak once more.

“The Covid-19 pandemic is over. The government should disband its Covid-19 test centres, while there’s no need for people to be wasting their time with lateral flow antigen tests either. We just need to treat Covid-19 like the common cold or flu and just move on,” Friel told the Business Post.