Coronavirus: Crisis set to last years, warns top health official

The Covid-19 emergency is set to last years, with the “ever-present danger” of further waves of cases, the head of the Department of Health will warn on Tuesday.

The “huge” social and economic costs of the pandemic “will be with us for some time”, department secretary-general Jim Breslin will tell the Dáil special committee on Covid-19.

Separately, the Senior Civil Service Association has warned senior civil servants must be protected from “aggressive or bullying behaviour, contrary to fair procedure and natural justice” when they give evidence to the special committee.

Coronavirus Data Dashboard

In a letter, sent on Monday to the head of every department in the Civil Service, the group warns that its members must have their “rights to constitutional and natural justice fully represented” in the hearings held by the committee.

Also on Tuesday, the country’s largest trade union is to call on the Government to put in place a compensation package to support the 7,600 healthcare workers who have contracted the disease.

The acute phase of this crisis will definitely be measured in months and most probably in years

Siptu wants all staff who suffered infections to be compensated for loss of earnings – including premium payments such as for weekend or unsocial hours work – due to illness, as well as the costs of future medical care.

Counselling

The State should also cover the cost of counselling services, according to Siptu health division organiser Paul Bell, who said he feared many health workers would develop post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of the pandemic.

In his opening statement to the committee, Mr Breslin will say that while “all crises come in phases”, the current Covid-19 crisis has a “particularly prolonged acute emergency phase”.

“We need to be aware that we will continue to be in the acute emergency phase of this crisis for some time, with further waves an ever-present danger. This is not a one-, two- or even a three-day storm, after which we move to the recovery phase. The acute phase of this crisis will definitely be measured in months and most probably in years, rather than days.”

There have now been 1,547 Covid-19 related deaths in the Republic. And 88 new cases of the disease were reported, bringing the total number of cases to 24,200.

Thousands of shops, businesses and construction sites reopened on Monday as part of the first phase of the easing of Covid-19 restrictions. Although long queues formed at some businesses, chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan said he believed the vast majority of retailers were acting responsibly in relation to staff and customers.

In the US, share prices on Wall Street rallied after a small-scale study on the first coronavirus vaccine to be tested on people, by drugmaker Moderna, produced favourable results.