THE GOVERNMENT HAS said that from 5 July, there will be “no limit” on visiting numbers for fully vaccinated people or those who recently recovered from Covid-19.

Under new plans agreed by the Cabinet this morning, this means any number of people can visit together if they have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19, or have recovered from Covid-19 infection in the past nine months.

From 5 July, the advice for unvaccinated household visits will remain the same – unvaccinated households can continue to have visitors from one other unvaccinated household. 

The planned reopening of indoor hospitality has been delayed until at least 19 July. It was intended to reopen next Monday, but this was thrown into doubt in recent weeks as the Delta coronavirus variant continued to spread in Ireland. 

Taoiseach Micheál Martin has not provided a date for the reopening, saying that his priority is to ensure that “when a sector reopens it stays open”. 

Plans were put on hold after a “stark” assessment from the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) yesterday about the potential spread of the Delta variant of Covid-19.

A date for when a person is ‘fully vaccinated’ depends on the vaccine received.

The timelines are:

• Seven days after the second Pfizer dose
• 14 days after the second Moderna dose
• 14 days after the single-dose Janssen vaccine
• 28 days after the first AstraZeneca dose – a second dose is still needed to ensure protection lasts

The ‘vaccine bonus’ for household visits was previously limited to meeting other fully vaccinated people from up to two other households without face coverings or social distancing measures.