A big day as we head towards Christmas.

NPHET is set to meet today to discuss the possibility of introducing new restrictions, as the Omicron variant threatens to cause a further surge in cases and hospitalisations.

The advisory group is expected to instruct the government to implement further rules around reduced social mixing and restriction of movement for those who are pinged as close contacts of confirmed cases of Covid.

In a Twitter thread yesterday, Deputy CMO Dr. Ronan Glynn noted:

“Omicron is spreading much faster than Delta. This is either because; A) it spreads more easily from person to person or B) it’s better than Delta at infecting people who’ve recovered from COVID or been vaccinated (immune evasion) or C) (most likely) a combination of a & b.

“So far, 2,629 cases have been confirmed (42 in Ireland) through genome sequencing, across Europe. This is likely a significant underestimate with community transmission now reported in many countries, including Ireland.”

Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly announced yesterday that measures would be introduced to speed up the booster vaccination programme, including doing away with the 15-minute observation period following the jab, extending opening hours, and permission to vaccinate those under the age of 50 once those between 50-59 have been boosted.