By Anthony Neeson
Most Covid-19 restrictions have been lifted in Ireland from Monday, February 28.
Nearly two years after restrictions were first introduced in the Republic, the mandatory requirement to wear a mask has been removed. The advice is that masks should still be worn while on public transport or in a healthcare setting.
The wearing of masks in schools is now voluntary.
The move came one day before the second anniversary of the first case of Coronavirus in Ireland on February 29, 2020.
The number of people in hospital with the virus continues to fall. Last week, the government agreed that NPHET’s recommendations to end almost all of the remaining restrictions should be accepted.
Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly said he understands that there might be some nervousness regarding not wearing masks.
“I fully understand that,” he said. “We know we’ve all been told by the public health experts and the government advice for some time now has been about wearing these masks, about wearing them in retail and public transport and wear them in health care settings so of course people are nervous.
“The people that we need to listen to most carefully are those who are more vulnerable hence for example to continue to wear them on public transport. Nonetheless the advice is very clear that based on the current trajectory of the disease and based on how many people have been vaccinated that this is the appropriate thing to do at this time.”
In Northern Ireland, remaining restrictions, like the wearing of face coverings, are now merely guidance.
Meanwhile, figures published by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) show that there were 3,269 excess deaths from March 2020 to December 2021, 11.3 percent above expected level. The figures also show that in the same period, there were 4,036 Covid-19 related deaths.
