IRELAND COULD soon finally be free of Covid-19 restrictions.
A meeting yesterday between members of the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) discussing the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, vaccine roll-out and reopening of society was overall a positive one, and life in Ireland could be returning to something close to normality sooner than expected.
According to The Irish Examiner, the NPHET members agreed that the continued vaccine roll-out, along with the peak, plateau and fall of cases expected in the coming weeks, means that the reopening of society can be planned by the government.
This includes the live music and entertainment sectors, which have been largely left behind while other parts of normal life- including hospitality- have returned to some form of normality.
While Ireland is currently experiencing a high number of cases, these will drop as more people become vaccinated, and there is more room for loosening restrictions.
A return to school and college for the over 1.5 million children and young people in Ireland is the top priority, The Examiner reports, while a return to the office, indoor sports and live music will 'happen quicker than was previously expected'.
Nightclubs and other late bars have been earmarked to return in just a matter of weeks, in October.
An official Government announcement on the new roadmap will be announced next week, following a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday.
The news comes after Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly predicted that Ireland would be fully reopened by Christmas, and Dr Tony Holohan, CMO, later added that it could be "sooner than that".
