'Very concerning' - Taoiseach believes Covid situation will get worse before it gets better

The Taoiseach believes the Covid-19 situation will get worse before it gets better. 

Micheál Martin made the comments to reporters ahead of a Cabinet meeting this morning to discuss the possible wider use of the Covid pass, among other measures recommended by NPHET. 

He called the situation "very concerning" and said, "[It] is getting worse and it'll get worse before it gets better." 

According to the Taoiseach, people are getting sick from Covid-19 through a combination of the reopening of society, increased socialisation and the waning of the vaccines." 

He believes everybody has an obligation to reduce socialisation. 

He said, "The situation, certainly from the presentation from the Health Service Executive last evening, is one that demands fairly quick action in respect of easing [the] pressure on the acute hospital system over the next number of weeks, because obviously there's a lag period from the incidence of getting the disease to a percentage going into hospital. 

"We simply have to limit the increase that we're experiencing at the moment in terms of hospitalisations in ICU and just people getting sick from Covid-19." 

However, he welcomed news that booster vaccines are to be extended to Over 50s. 

He said, "It will take time in terms of scheduling, but nonetheless a higher cohort of the population will be getting the booster vaccine, that would be important."