Consultant warns 'no capacity' to deal with coronavirus outbreak; Harris predicts Irish case likely
There is a “high likelihood” Ireland could see a confirmed case of coronavirus in the coming weeks, the health minister has warned.
The comment came after Irish citizens were advised not to travel to parts of Italy, where the number of cases is increasing.
Simon Harris said advice on “mass gatherings” such as the upcoming Ireland v Italy Six Nations game will be reviewed. He emphasised, however, that there are “no plans as of now” to cancel the match or other large events, such as St Patrick’s Day parades, scheduled to take place in the coming weeks.
“There will be some big decisions that have to be made in the coming days including mass gatherings,” said Mr Harris. “Most particularly, I’m thinking of the Ireland-Italy rugby game that’s due to take place in the not-too-distant future.”
He said that the National Public Emergency team will continue to meet and monitor Ireland’s response to the coronavirus outbreak.
“The chances of a coronavirus case in Ireland, or indeed anywhere in the European Union outside of Italy, has significantly increased, but it’s really important and that we act in accordance with best health advice,” said Mr Harris.
Ireland are due to take on Italy in the Six Nations in Dublin on March 7. Several PRO14 matches involving Italian teams have been postponed, while several Italian football matches were also cancelled over the weekend.
Yesterday, Italy reported its seventh death from coronavirus. It came just hours after the Department of Foreign Affairs advised Irish citizens not to travel to the affected parts of Italy — Piedmont, Lombardy, Veneto, Emilia Romagna, and Lazio. The department said the Italian government has taken a number of precautions, including restricting movement in and out of affected areas, closing museums, and quarantining where necessary. Italy has the most confirmed cases in Europe at more than 150.
The EU announced the allocation of some €232m, divided into €114m to the World Health Organisation, a planned €15m for efforts to combat the virus in Africa, €100m for research, and €3m for the repatriation of EU citizens from the epicentre of the virus in Wuhan, China.
Meanwhile, a leading intensive care consultant has warned that there are not enough ICU beds in Irish hospitals in the event of an outbreak here.
Tom Ryan of St James’ Hospital in Dublin, told RTÉ Radio’s Today with Séan O’Rourke show that it was recognised 10 years ago that the number of ICU beds should have been doubled.
“We have only half the ICU beds needed, but no action was taken,” said Dr Ryan. “The current ICU stock is outdated and there are poor isolation facilities. Even if there was a small number of cases, that would present a challenge as there is no capacity in the system.”
He said that ideally the health system should run at 80% bed occupancy, but in Ireland it is 96%.
“There is no leeway to deal with additional critical patients,” he said.
Cillian De Gascun, head of the National Virus Reference Lab in UCD, said that a small number of cases would be “manageable”, but acknowledged that there is not the spare capacity to handle “an outbreak of this nature”.
