AN IRISH health expert has urged that we delay Christmas until January in order to crush coronavirus once and for all.
Dr Tómas Ryan, Associate Professor in the School of Biochemistry and Immunology at Trinity College, also made the suggestion so that the people of Ireland can celebrate the holiday properly.
Speaking on Newstalk Breakfast, Dr Ryan warned the country could find itself back at 1,000 cases a day by January if Level Five restrictions are lifted as planned on December 1.
"Even if we get down to 100 cases a day on December 1, it seems to me it would be much more profitable and pleasant for everyone in Ireland if we got cases down to single figures or to zero and then kept them there so that we could open up and stay open for as long as possible," he said.
Dr Ryan suggests that maintaining lockdown for as long as possible - much in the same way as Australia has done - would be the smartest plan, so that when the Covid-19 vaccine arrives by late January, Ireland will be in a position to more or less stamp the virus out.
This would mean though that a 'normal' Christmas would be impossible ... but not if we simply celebrate Christmas later.
"I think we can return to a normality that is quite like life right now in most of Australia by early January, which would mean Level 1 or Level 0 restrictions by January, if we get rid of this now," he added
"One way of doing this would be to delay Christmas until the end of January and have a real Christmas and a real party then."
Infectious diseases expert Professor Paddy Mallon also warned that the Irish public needs to "sit back and think about what they want from Christmas" as they are not going to have "a normal Christmas".
Could a Christmas in January be the answer?
