Professor Johan Giesecke:

I thank the committee for the invitation. I have some observations that are completely my own - I am not representing anyone in this meeting. I used to work for Sweden but I am now simply Johan Giesecke.

My first point is that we should wait at least a year before we start comparing the strategies of countries. This epidemic is only in its beginning right now. Everyone is comparing how country X did and how country Y did. It is too early for that. The epidemic is still evolving as we speak. Even a soft lockdown, like we have had in Sweden, can be quite effective. I believe it could be effective in other countries as well. The idea is that we trust people and rely more on voluntary measures than on laws and regulations. People are not stupid. If we tell them what they should do to protect themselves and others, they will generally follow what we tell them without any policing in the streets and so on.

We should not build a strategy on the imminent advent of a vaccine. We might have to wait for it and it may not be effective on those who need it most. We may compare it to the flu vaccine, for example, which has worked less well or not so well on old people as young people.

I believe Ireland should allow a controlled spread of the disease among people below 60 years while concentrating on the old and frail. That should really be intensive. It means testing staff and patients frequently and sending home anyone who works in such settings who has the slightest symptom of infection. We should be intense in the way we protect old and frail people in care homes.

There should be intensive contact tracing, identification of contacts, testing of contacts and probably home isolation of contacts.

That is where we should concentrate our efforts to combat this virus - on the old and the frail. Among the age group of people below 60 years, we should allow a moderate or tolerable spread of the disease.

Ireland should keep its schools open. Sweden has done that all the time. It is interesting as an aside that Finland locked its schools when Sweden did not. A comparison was done about a month ago in respect of the number of school children infected in Sweden and Finland. There was no difference at all.

We should all realise - this is important - that the epidemic as well as the countermeasures hurt marginalised people most. The poor and marginalised will hurt most from the epidemic and lockdowns and whatever measures we propose.

One thing that has not been mentioned much is the threat to democracy raised by this epidemic. Strong people in many countries have assumed power that they did not have before and they might not yield it at the end of this. We should keep an eye on that.

Covid-19 is sometimes regarded as a mystical or supernatural disease. It is a viral respiratory infection. It has its own characteristics, but it is a respiratory viral infection and we have seen many of these. Covid-19 is not something completely new. Finally, I will offer a word of caution. Covid-19 has surprised us many times during the past seven or eight months and may do so again.