Dr. David Nabarro:

I thank the Deputy. I will make a general statement on the second point. I really hope that it will not be necessary for the whole economy of Ireland to close again as a result of Covid. Everything I am reading suggests that by building up local level public health capacity, it looks as though Ireland is putting good protection and defence in place. That is what getting ahead of the virus means. I am not too keen on cocooning sections of the population because I am in the 70-plus age group. I do not want to be cocooned. I have just met my fifth grandchild, born a couple of days ago, and I very much want to see him. If we are going to do population profiling, could we please do our absolute best to avoid any kind of shut-up of any particular group of people?

I agree with the Deputy that children appear - please do not take this as a statement of policy or fact - not to have a central role in the transmission of the virus. However, it is also clear from recent data from South Korea that the school can be an epicentre where virus transmission can build up. We need to be quite careful to distinguish between what happens in the school as a meeting point and the role played by children.

I believe that in humid, cold contexts the droplets that carry the Covid virus tend to linger longer and travel a little bit further in the air than in hot, dry environments. I agree, therefore, that there will be some potentiation of transmission during the winter.

It will be additionally complicated because flu is there at the same time and differentiating will be difficult. I repeat what I said before. I do not think this is seasonal.

We checked with others on the vitamin D and zinc issue and, as I thought, this is work in progress.