Health officials are hoping to see some sign that national coronavirus Level Three restrictions are working by Thursday.

The Chief Medical Officer last night said the national 14-day rate of the virus now stands at 167 per 100,000 people – up 11.5 on the day before.

There have been 8,000 new cases in Ireland in the past two weeks – including 825 announced last night.

Level Three

He said the last four weeks of Level Three appear to have had an effect in Dublin – but it is too early to say whether numbers are stabilising.

“We saw some stabilisation in the numbers over the course of last week and we would have reported that,” he said. “The five-day incidence for example in Dublin did drop.”

“But in each of the last three days we have seen case numbers up again in Dublin, well in excess of 200 I think.

“So, I don’t think we can conclude that we have turned a corner in Dublin.”

Pictured beside @CMOIreland 23 year old Dr Owen O’Flynn who will be giving an account of his experience of post covid-19 syndrome pic.twitter.com/4SP91hYrAR

— Kacey O'Riordan (@KaceyORiordan) October 12, 2020

Dr Holohan again urged people to work from home if at all possible – warning that there appeared to be a ‘creep’ of people returning to the office.

He also warned that now is not the time for house parties and play dates – and warned that children can’t expect a “normal Halloween” this year.

He said the National Public Health Emergency Team would like to see some encouraging signs before they meet in two days’ time.

“We will be looking to see evidence that measures in place – the Level three measures – and deciding how well we believe they are working on Thursday of this week.

“Because I think that period time – even though we might see further improvement after that and many people who were experiencing infection this week were already infected – we would like to see some encouraging signs by Thursday of this week.”

Masks

Meanwhile, the Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr Roan Glynn said officials would consider asking people to wear masks outdoors – but noted that it is more important for people to “focus on wearing them appropriately.”

He said there are far too many examples of people wearing them under their chin, exposing their nose or constantly taking them on and off.

“I think before we would think about extending mask use more generally, it is very important that people focus on using them appropriately,” he said.

“From that perspective, I will take the opportunity to again highlight the importance of people wearing masks where they can wear masks as opposed to visors.

“Visors are an acceptable alternative for a very small proportion of our population who can’t wear masks for a variety of reasons.”

Northern Ireland

Meanwhile, politicians in Northern Ireland will hold an emergency meeting this morning to consider introducing far tougher restrictions.

Nearly 6,200 cases have been confirmed in the North in the past two week’s and Stormont’s Chief Medical Officer has suggested a six-week ‘circuit-breaker’ lockdown.

Should that happen, the border counties of Donegal, Monaghan and Cavan could be moved to Level Four restrictions.

Big blow

Yesterday’s figures form the HPSC showed that all three counties now have 14-day rates above 300.

Cavan TD Brendan Smith warned that Cavan has jumped from one of the lowest rates in the country to the second highest in around two weeks.

He said increased restrictions would be a big blow for the area.

“Level Four would mean a substantial reduction in business and economic activity and there would be some further restrictions on household movement and that,” he said.

“We saw in other counties where restrictions were implemented that there were positive results and I would hope in the course of the next few days that we would see a reduction in the incidence rate in the three border counties that have the highest rate at the minute – namely Donegal Cavan and Monaghan.”