Dr. Ronan Glynn:

On the Deputy's second point, first of all we need to get back to a position where we, as a nation, understand that we have one enemy, that is, the virus. There are not multiple sectors of society willingly doing the wrong thing. People are tired and fatigued. Every one of us slips up at times. Equally, the vast majority of people in this country continue to do the right thing. As a society, we need every sector, sporting organisation, restaurant and business to look again, with the type of vigour and enthusiasm that they looked at this issue back in March and April, and see what more they can do. A retail outlet can consider whether there are too many people coming and going. A transport operator can look at whether there are too many people on a conveyance. A restaurant can examine whether there is more it could do to protect its customers and staff. Do we need to do more around enforcement? I think we do. On balance, the response to this virus to date has been characterised by clarity on the core simple messages that people need to adhere to, and we need to get back to basics on that.

The Deputy spoke of puzzlement. As we have tried to get more nuanced in our approach, perhaps some of the clarity on messaging has been lost, and I accept that. Ultimately, the things that defeat this virus have not changed in eight months and it comes back to the simple measures of distancing, hand washing, face coverings, downloading the app and not going to work if one is sick, and if one is a close contact please go and get a test.