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15th April 2020
11:42am BST

"We were interested in asking about the impact of social distancing and what happens when we stop," he said.
"We are doing social distancing with the idea of flattening the curve and trying to prevent overwhelming our healthcare infrastructure. If we do that, we also keep a lot of people susceptible to the infection.
"If we stop social distancing (...) we might see again a rise in infection, which might prompt us to reinitiate social distancing."
This comes after Minister for Health Simon Harris said that social restrictions could continue in Ireland until a vaccine becomes available.
Minister Harris added that there is "not going to be a magic point" at the beginning of May where life in Ireland returns to normal.
“We may arrive at a point where we can begin to tweak and change some of the restrictions because I am really conscious the current situation is not sustainable forever,” he said.
“I think, being truthful, social distancing is going to remain a very big part of life not just in Ireland but the world over until we get to a vaccine or effective treatment for the coronavirus."
Ireland saw its highest death toll yesterday with a record 41 people passing away. There are now 11,479 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the country.Explore more on these topics: