Zero Covid not a runner

A policy of ‘zero Covid’ in Ireland is not possible and has been debunked by experts, a senior Government TD has insisted.

Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Hildegarde Naughton, said the key to getting the country back toward some normality was a successful roll-out of the vaccine immunisation programme.

Local zero Covid advocates are pushing for a strict lockdown of six to ten weeks to almost completely eliminate the virus from the community – but Minister Naughton said it’s not a strategy suited to Ireland.

“Opening up the country safely is the road we want to go down and ensuring any business that opens, stays open – that is our focus now,” the Fine Gael TD said.

“A zero Covid strategy has been debunked and is not possible or sustainable in Ireland because we have a border with Northern Ireland that cannot be sealed.

“Zero Covid was discussed at a Cabinet sub-committee as well as by National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET), and the Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan has said that a zero Covid strategy just wouldn’t work here. He said we couldn’t realistically seal the borders of this country and stop the movement of people in and out.

“Professor Philip Nolan, chair of NPHET epidemiological advisory group, said that the notion of having zero Covid in Ireland within weeks or months is a strategy offering ‘an utterly false promise’. Realistically, practically when you think about it, it’s not workable,” Minister Naughton said.

Get all the latest Covid-19 coverage in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now – or you can download our digital edition on www.connachttribune.ie