Dr. David Nabarro:

Thanks very much, indeed. I have noticed that Ireland has rather a different distribution of mortality between women and men compared with other countries. I do not know the reason for this, but I know it is the subject of quite deep and careful investigations. The sorts of issues to be looked at include whether there were underlying conditions, or whether there was any difference between men and women in access to healthcare. I do not want to speculate. I think that would be wrong because I just do not know. I hope that care is taken to make sure women and men are getting the same attention when they are ill. We have found in other conditions, like myocardial infarction, that for some reason in some countries women present for care later than men do and that leads to worse outcomes. We have also found, as an aside and I hope I am not taking up too much time, that although Covid is more fatal for men the actual containment measures tend to be much worse for women and they suffer more. Therefore, the whole gender issues regarding Covid need to be looked at with great care.

If I were advising the Government of Ireland, I would suggest that when it is deciding about air travel it should look for the equalisation of risk.

I would set up air bridges with countries where I felt the Covid prevalence in the community was about the same, the incidence figures of new cases were about the same and the capacity to deal with outbreaks was compatible in the two countries. Then I would set up the air bridge and keep it reviewed at regular intervals. It is not appropriate to have a single blanket recommendation for everybody, at least not at this time, but I do understand the debate. Some people will say we have to get it to zero and keep it at zero, which means having really tight border controls. There will be others who say we should hang on a bit, that we have a country that is dependent on international connections and that perhaps we have to tolerate a slightly different level of risk. I would work really hard not to make the decision because that is what politicians such as the committee members are elected to do. I would offer advice, and I would say they just have to balance these things against each other. With regard to creating a type of curtain around Ireland and saying sorry that is it and that people can only come in if they stick around for two weeks - either in self-isolation or in quarantine and that is the only way they can come in - I just want to say there are going to be major disadvantages with that type of approach. Rapid testing at the airport is not really on. We do not have a rapid test that can be done. Having polymerise chain reaction, PCR, testing at the airport might work and that is something that might be done. It would require considerable investment.