THE TAOISEACH HAS urged the public to be vigilant and focus on “personal responsibilities” ahead of the next wave of Covid-19 infections.

A spike in cases driven by the Delta variant, first identified in India, is projected for August, but Micheal Martin believes this wave will be different from past ones.

He said that while people are tired of the pandemic, refocusing on personal behaviour would help to mitigate the impact of the Delta variant, and protect progress already made.

Speaking today in Cork, Martin said: “I think it will be different in its impact to previous waves, as we’ve seen, every phase of this is different to the previous phase.

We learn lessons from the previous phases. We have far more of the population vaccinated now. So what I would say to people is to be vigilant, to refocus in terms of our personal behaviour. It can be difficult, and people are tired of the pandemic, that I understand.

“But if we all refocus in terms of our own personal responsibilities and personal behaviours, we can go a long way to mitigate the impact of of the Delta variant, whilst we roll out the vaccination programme and try and maintain what we’ve already achieved so far this year.

Speaking at at Department of Health briefing on Thursday, NPHET virologist Dr Cillian de Gascun said that the Delta variant now accounts for approximately 70% of cases in Ireland. 

He said the available evidence suggests the Delta variant is between 40% and 60% more transmissible than the Alpha strain, previously referred to as the UK variant, that became dominate in the Ireland at the beginning of the year. 

Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan said that this increased transmissibility will likely lead to “a significant increase in transmission” as he said that has been the experience “across many parts of the UK”. 

The this message was echoed by the Taoiseach today.

“But the volume of cases worries me in terms of what we’re hearing from the United Kingdom,” he said.

In terms of the number of cases that can occur in the unvaccinated population, and the degree to which that high volume of cases could penetrate the wall that the vaccine gives us.

Related Reads

Taoiseach on defensive as he faces backlash from his own party over hospitality vaccine cert plan

From 250 to 2,170 deaths, here's what NPHET's modelling said about four 'Delta wave' scenarios

The Taoiseach said it remains to be seen how severe the impact of the Delta wave will be.

“The interesting issue will be the link between volume of cases and hospitalisation,” he said.

It will take more time to establish with precision what that will be. We are concerned about it, and I’m concerned about it. But that said, we have significant numbers of the population vaccinated, we’re going to really accelerate that in the coming month.

He also confirmed that Ireland has approached other European countries for excess vaccines, after agreeing a deal in principle for one million unwanted jabs from Romania.

“I thank the Romanian president for his engagement with me on this. He said, as a measure of simple solidarity is what he said to me, he was willing to help Ireland,” he said.

- With reporting by Rónán Duffy