Dr Tony Holohan did not see any need to reintroduce Covid-19 restrictions amid the surging cases numbers in Ireland.
Tanaiste Leo Varadkar told a party meeting earlier this week that the CMO at the time did not anticipate any new rules being needed to stop the spread of the virus.
Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan issued an ominous warning last month that the latest strain “may be dominant by the last week in February”.
Following NPHET’s last meeting on February 17, during which it was recommended the team be stood down, Dr Holohan flagged his concerns about new variants - and in particular, BA.2 sub-strain of the Omicron variant.
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On that date, 78 cases of BA.2 were found in Ireland. Dr Holohan wrote: “In total, approximately 60% of current infections are S-gene target negative, suggesting approximately 40% of current infections are BA.2.
“This is growing at 9.7% (7.5-12%) per day and may be dominant by the last week in February 2022.”
According to the latest HPSC data, as of February 28, 548 cases of BA.2 have been confirmed in Ireland.
Concerns have been raised about the BA.2 variant, also known as stealth omicron, as it is said to be one of the most infectious diseases the world has ever seen.
Former World Health Organisation scientist Professor Adrian Esterman wrote on Twitter: “Omicron BA.2 is about 1.4 times more infectious than BA.1. The basic reproduction number (R0) for BA.1 is about 8.2, making R0 for BA.2 about 12.
“This makes it pretty close to measles, the most contagious disease we know about.”
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