Breaking: Taoiseach confirms Ireland will not move forward to PHASE 4.
"I wish I was in a position to give better news but I am not."
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5 day average of new cases is 45.4 - up from 6.4 on June 4th.
"The Irish people have done an incredible job" says the Taoiseach.
"We are very delicately balanced" says Dr Ronan Glynn.
Breaking: Bars, nightclubs will remain closed.
Numbers at indoor and outdoor gatherings will NOT increase.
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Martin sympathises with pub owners. "It is stopping them providing a great service... International experience shows that pubs and nightclubs lead to increased transmission - that would be the very worst thing to happen to this country."
Face coverings mandatory in shops and shopping centres from 10th August.
Breaking: #GreenList reduced by five countries.
Cyprus, Malta, Gibraltar, Monaco and San Marino are all gone.
Taoiseach: This virus has NOT changed.
It has remained indiscriminate in its cruelty.
Taoiseach appeals for "patience".
He appeals to public to keep up the effort for our vulnerable loved ones, frontline workers, schoolchildren and all those who have lost their lives.
Varadkar: We are in a precarious position.
Pandemic is "worse than ever at a global level".
This is not the positive press conference that some had anticipated.
"We need to go back to basics..." says Varadkar.
"I know for workers and businesses who thought they were going back to work next week, this will be a body blow. We are very sorry about that. But it is the right thing to do."
Stephen Donnelly now is thanking everyone for doing the basics right.
Donnelly says 5 people are currently in ICU in Ireland.
"14 of the 15 countries on our green list have seen significant increases."
Donnelly speaks to concern about increase in community transmission.
Says we could end in a position of clusters causing more community transmission - ending up with up to 100 cases per day.
Donnelly: Increased presence at airports.
🔴 Passenger locator forms go online.
🔴 Increased follow-up for people arriving into the country.
Ronan Glynn: Right decision not to move to Phase 4.
"We have seen concerning changes..."
"We fully understand that the decisions will be disappointing for many... But we cannot take unnecessary risks which put more people at risk. We have seen this in other countries."
He says he doesn't want to see spike here that leads to stricter measures.
Glynn: Significant proportion of cases among those under 45.
He says more needs to be done to reach out to younger people - he says it's not about blame.
Martin on whether there have been outbreaks on pubs -> International reopening of pubs has increased transmission, while we're seeing increased cases of community transmission here.
Martin says there are "particular difficulties" for pub owners.
He says Govt will "examine" sectoral impacts and what additional supports can be offered.
Ministers have been asked to look at solutions over coming weeks.
Taoiseach on rural pubs: Seven counties had community transmission.
"It's not that easy" to say pubs in one county should open over another.
"There has been guidance on house parties - they should not be happening."
Martin says there's no evidence house parties would stop if pubs were opened.
Taoiseach and Ministers stumbling on when the next review will happen.
It's three weeks on from August 10th.
Glynn on what would prompt a slide back to an earlier phase.
"It won't be as simple as number of cases."
Micheal Martin says restaurants will be closing at 11pm.
🔴 Advice was unanimous on NPHET.
On outdoors/sports: the issue is going to or coming from matches. It's the congregation before or after and the mixing of households.
Glynn: It's very important that the message doesn't get out that Outdoors is dangerous.
The stadium is not the issue - the issue is getting to or coming from the stadium
"We have multiple cases here from people mixing households and sharing transport."
Ronan Glynn: It has been a "Gloomy Summer" in terms of what we can and can't do. He appeals to people to look at it from the international standpoint and think of the alternative.
He goes through the behaviours people need to keep up to get our schools open.
Breaking: Pubs and Restaurants MUST close at 11pm.
"I wouldn't say curfew" says Taoiseach.
Tánaiste says restaurants had been operating effectively as pubs and there had been dangerous mixing.
Will the pubs reopen at all this year?
MM: We CAN'T give any guarantees right now... A lot depends on the virus. That's why my colleagues will be examining what supports can be offered... We would very much hope that they can.
It's not just a Dublin issue.
Ronan Glynn: "There is a misconception that the majority of cases are in Dublin. That's not true. Only one in four cases are in Dublin over the past two weeks."
MM says there may be a localised approach in the future but not right now.
That's the presser over.
31st of August when the next review would take effect - decision probably a few days beforehand.
Latest on all of this on @VirginMediaNews at 8pm.
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