OUTDOOR dining in pubs and restaurants may be allowed again as early as next month thanks to encouraging new data on Covid-19 transmission in Ireland.
According to the Irish Daily Mail, a number of Government ministers said that they were "excited" by the latest figures from the Health Protection Surveillance Centre that show that 0.1% of Covid-19 transmission occurs outdoors.
With that in mind, the reopening of outside dining areas has become a real possibility.
"If we take this exciting new information, and all the other data aligns, I think we can possibly look at the end of May as a viable target for outdoor dining and allowing pubs to serve in an outdoor setting," one minister said.
Adding to the optimism, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said on Monday that hairdressers and non-essential retail and services will be reopening in May too, so long as Covid figures continue to drop.
He also promised a "surprise" acceleration of the vaccine roll-out in the coming weeks and said that additional freedoms will be afforded to those who are fully vaccinated against Covid-19, confirming that the Government is developing a 'digital green certificate vaccine pass' for people to prove they have received their jab(s).
Varadkar also said that religious services, contact sports, museums, galleries and libraries will potentially be back on the cards by May as well.
