Government facing 5km limit dilemma as April decision looms

The Government is divided on whether to ease the 5km exercise limit when the next round of Covid-19 restrictions comes into effect on April 5.

The 5km limit has been in place since the end of December and The Irish Times reports today that a decision has yet to be made on whether to lift it on April 5. Ministers are said to be divided, with some feeling that Covid-19 case numbers are not low enough to warrant an easing of restrictions and others of the opinion that keeping the 5km limit could lead to a loss of public buy-in. 582 new cases were reported on Thursday evening,

Meanwhile Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr. Ronan Glynn has suggested that people will be working from home for a while longer, saying “we want people to work from home for the next two, three, four months. He added that “there’s a real significant benefit to the control of this disease by people staying at home and not going into workplaces. It’s one of the very few places at the moment where people can meet and transmit the disease, so we’re very clear that we want people to work from home.

He went on to say that “what I’d say to employees who do have that choice and in particular to employers who can give that choice, I’d really ask them to do so because it’s not in any of our interest for ongoing increase in mobility in return to workplaces.”

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