Disappointing but not surprising news.
An Taoiseach Micheál Martin has confirmed the news that the Level 5 lockdown restrictions are to be extended until March 5.
Measures have been under discussion today (January 26), with the current restrictions lasting until January 31. Now, they will be reinforced for at least another month.
Before walking into the Cabinet this morning, Martin said to reporters: “As has been flagged, the restrictions will continue to the 5th of March.”
“[While] current measures are working and adherence high, our overriding objective is to alleviate pressure on our hospitals and our intensive care unit.”
Micheál Martin also noted that, despite the extension, there would still be a “significant” amount of people in hospital with Covid-19 at the end of February.
A mandatory quarantine period was also discussed at the Cabinet meeting. It is being considered that arrivals from would quarantine 14-days if they arrived without a negative PCR test, or anyone arriving from South Africa or Brazil – due to the new variants of the virus.
An official announcement on the extension of the lockdown is expected to come shortly.