The State’s 30,000 nursing home residents are advised to avoid visits to private homes over Christmas due to the risk from Covid-19 during the pandemic, the Government has advised.

Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly said there may be "significant risk of the unwitting introduction of Covid-19 into nursing homes" from external visits by residents, "particularly as there may be increased spread of infection in the community at Christmas."

He advised that nursing home residents “should not undertake such external visits”.

Hospital Report

“An external visit to a private home over Christmas will usually mean meeting quite a few people and it won’t be possible to be sure that everyone who comes to the house has been checked for Covid-19 symptoms and is careful about social distancing,” Mr Donnelly said.

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The Minister said he appreciated that this “may be disappointing for some residents and their family member” and he acknowledged that 2020 “has been a most difficult year for families.”

"However, this must be considered in the context of the current rate of transmission and the ongoing risk," he said in response to a parliamentary question asked by Fine Gael TD Fergus O'Dowd.

He cited the latest risk assessment from the European Centre for Disease Control for people in long-term residential care, which said that the risk of Covid-19 infection in the EU and the UK is “currently considered very high for residents of these services.”

Under current rules, the Government permits up to one visit by one person to a nursing home resident under the current Level 3 restrictions. This same restrictions remain in place for Level 4, while up to one visit every two weeks by one person to a resident is permitted under Level 5.

“We must be vigilant in ensuring that residents who may be very vulnerable to adverse outcomes as a result of Covid-19 continue to be protected through these public health measures,” Mr Donnelly said.

“I encourage all nursing homes to facility visits in line with public health advice, and to communicate with family and friends.”

Nursing home residents have borne the brunt of the pandemic, accounting for more than half of the deaths from the virus in the State with older people most vulnerable to the disease.

The National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) will meet on Thursday after chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan warned on Wednesday that the virus was "moving in the wrong direction."

There have been “significant” increases in the positivity rates and incidence rates of the virus since public health restrictions were eased at the start of this month.