New restrictions are coming.
Close contacts of a confirmed Covid-19 case who have both gotten a booster vaccine and are not showing symptoms of the virus will no longer have to restrict their movements for five days with new plans being discussed by Government.
The Government are expecting to receive new advice on the rules for close contacts from the chief medical officer Tony Holohan on Tuesday.
Three Government sources revealed to The Irish Independent that the new advice has yet to come from Dr. Holohan and they now expect that it will reveal that once a close contact has received a booster vaccine, they will not have to restrict their movements provided they wear a mask and do regular antigen tests.
The new advice is likely to be discussed in Cabinet on Wednesday.
Currently, anyone who is a close contact and has received their booster more than seven days before becoming a close contact is told to restrict their movements for five days and do three antigen tests with two days between each one.
If any of the tests come back positive, they then must isolate and book a PCR test.
For anyone who received their booster less than seven days before the close contact test must restrict their movements for 10 days, doing three antigen tests. The same applies for those who are vaccinated but have not gotten a booster or have not gotten a vaccination at all.
