Public health measures: what has changed?

Public health measures to slow the spread of COVID-19 were introduced on 27 March 2020. On 1 May, the Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar TD announced that the measures will continue until 18 May 2020. From Tuesday 5 May, there will be 2 changes:

• People will be able to go up to 5 kilometres from their home to exercise
• People who are cocooning can leave their homes for exercise or a drive as long as they avoid all contact with other people

Cocooning initially involved staying at home in all circumstances. You can read more about the measures on gov.ie.

Roadmap for Reopening Society and Business

The Government has also set out a Roadmap for Reopening Society and Business (pdf) to ease COVID-19 restrictions in a phased manner from 18 May 2020.

The plan sets out five stages for unlocking restrictions, at 3-week intervals.

From 18 May, changes set out in the Phase 1 of the roadmap include:

• Allow outdoor meetings between people from different households
• Open up childcare for healthcare workers
• Phased return of outdoor workers
• Open retailers which are primarily outdoor or those which were open during first level of restriction (such as opticians)
• Opening of certain outdoor public amenities

As restrictions are eased, the rate of the virus in the community will be constantly monitored by the National Public Health Emergency Team and the Government.