Dr Tony Holohan's stark warning as South African variant confirmed in Ireland and highest ever number of cases recorded
The South African variant of Covid-19 has been confirmed in Ireland, on the same day the country recorded its highest ever number of new cases.
Issuing a stern warning, particularly to those who are travelling into the country, the Chief Medical Officer said: "Three cases of a new variant of Covid-19 recently identified in South Africa have been confirmed in Ireland today by whole genome sequencing.“Anyone who has travelled from South Africa recently is advised to self-isolate for 14 days and identify themselves through a GP for testing as soon as possible.
“While this variant has not yet been identified in many European countries we believe the identification here reflects the extent of genome sequencing surveillance in Ireland.” "It also states that there is no evidence to date that this variant is associated with higher severity of infection.