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Ireland on Tuesday announced stricter anti-coronavirus measures as the confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the country soared to 1,329 with seven deaths.
The tightened steps, announced by Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar earlier in the day, include shutdowns of more public places and businesses across the country, greater financial support for individuals and companies affected by the pandemic, and a new emergency legislation which will give the government extra power to cope with the coronavirus outbreak.
Non-essential services will be banned, closing nearly all cultural, entertainment and sports venues.
Other steps include requiring all cafes, restaurants and hotels to limit their service, all places of worship to restrict their visitor numbers, prohibition of all organized social indoor and outdoor events, cancelling of all sports events and cruise ship travel.
Besides, all outdoor social gatherings of individuals can not exceed four persons unless they come from the same household.
All household contacts of a suspect case of COVID-19 are ordered to restrict their movements until the time when the suspect case tests negative or for 14 days.
The new measures allow supermarkets and pharmacies to open, but they must implement strict social distancing rules advised by the government.
On March 12, Ireland decided to close all the primary, secondary and third-level schools as well as the childcare facilities across the country. Three days later, the Irish government issued a statement calling for the closure of all pubs and bars.
Authorities said that all the new measures will be implemented from Tuesday night until April 19, extending the previous deadline of March 29. The new deadline could be further extended in light of the pandemic situation.
The Irish police have been ordered to intervene in any violation of the rules announced by the government. They are allowed to detain those who refuse to self-isolate at the recommendation of doctors.
According to the new measures, the Irish government will increase the payment for those who are on a sick leave because of COVID-19 or who have lost their jobs due to the impact of the pandemic from the previously announced 203 euros (about 220 U.S. dollars) a week to 350 euros (about 380 dollars) a week. The policy also covers self-employed people.
The government will also pay 70 percent of a worker's wages with a ceiling of no more than 410 euros (about 445 dollars) per week if the employee's company affected by the coronavirus outbreak agrees to continue paying the remainder of the salary.
Varadkar last week called on the public to be fully prepared for a prolonged impact of the coronavirus outbreak, saying his country has been "in the midst of a global and national emergency -- a pandemic, the likes of which none of us has seen before."
(by Zhang Qi)
