The Prime Minister of Ireland on Thursday expressed regret over the decision to facilitate lock-in rules in the country around Christmas.
In an interview with CNN’s Becky Anderson, Micheal Martin said: “If we had known what we know now, we certainly would not have made the decision.”
Ireland was locked up again after restrictions eased in December, leading to the country having one of the highest infection rates in the world by January.
Martin added that Ireland would remain in a trap ‘for some time’ to reduce hospital numbers.
The British variant is now responsible for 70% of Covid-19 cases in Ireland, Martin said.
“I think worldwide we need to make the vaccinations, because it is important that the whole world is vaccinated, not just countries that are richer and able to do it sooner,” he said.
In addition, he also said the ‘new variant could undermine the vaccination of the vaccine’ and reiterated that Ireland’s goal is to vaccinate 80% of people by September.
‘It’s somewhat disrupted by problems with the AstraZeneca vaccine and its supply, and we’re not getting the same level of supply as we thought we would start at the beginning of the year, and it’s part of the larger EU purchase issue with AstraZeneca. “Martin conceded, but said that the country would receive higher amounts of vaccines in the second quarter of the year.