By Vivienne Clarke
The director of the National virus laboratory, Dr Cillian De Gascun has warned that if the number of cases of Covid-19 rises to more than 100 per day then there could be a return to Phase 2 of restrictions.
“It is just a concern at this stage,” he told RTÉ radio. “The R number can be affected by a few large clusters. It's not as if cases are popping up all over the country.”
The R number relates to the reproduction rate of the virus, so how likely it is to get passed on to someone else. Ireland's current R number is around 1.0, meaning for every one person with the virus they are infecting one other person.
He warned that it is risky reopening things to fast: "If there's widespread community transmission of the virus, then it will get into schools, into residential care facilities, and into nursing homes - but if we can stamp it out in the community, that's how we protect everybody.”
Dr De Gascun also advised young people to avoid house parties, especially where there is singing after it emerged that a cluster of cases had recently arisen from a microphone used for karaoke at a house party.
Singing was one of the easiest ways to spread the virus because of the spray of droplets, he said. If a young person arrived at a party and saw there was unsafe behaviour, they should turn around and go home and instead organise to meet their friends for a coffee.
