Mark Ward (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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752. To ask the Minister for Health if consideration has been given to not counting fully vaccinated wedding guests in the 25 guest limit which is due to be introduced in June 2021; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23990/21]

Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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753. To ask the Minister for Health if consideration has been given to exempting persons that have been fully vaccinated from the 25 guest limit for weddings and six guest limit for after celebrations. [23997/21]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 752 and 753 together.

There has been considerable progress in reducing infection levels since the peak of the wave of infection in late 2020/early 2021 because of the widespread commitment and adherence by the public to the public health measures in place. While there is still a high level of infection nationally, the situation is considered reasonably stable and significant progress is being made in relation to the roll-out of our vaccination programme.

In recognition of the improving situation, the Government announced a roadmap on the 29 April for the gradual lifting of some restrictions over the next two months, with a particular focus on allowing more outdoor activities. A range of measures will be eased in May, with a further easing of measures in June subject to the epidemiological situation at the time.

The announcement include the following changes to the measures applying to weddings: as of May 10, there can be an increase in the number of guests attending wedding services to 50 which brings this figure in line with the numbers permitted at religious services.

This increase to 50 guests relates to the service (both religious or civil) only. The number of guests attending a wedding celebration or reception should remain at 6 guests for indoor gatherings and 15 guests for outdoor gatherings. From 7 June, subject to the epidemiological situation at the time, it is envisaged that the numbers of guests attending a wedding celebration or reception will increase to 25.

The “vaccine bonus/dividend” provisions currently in place are guided by public health advice and are specifically focused on social visits to private homes to alleviate the impacts of social isolation. From 10 May, those that are fully vaccinated may visit with other fully vaccinated people, providing there is no more than 3 households present and those that are fully vaccinated may visit with unvaccinated people from a single household, provided that they are not at risk of severe illness and there is no more than 3 households present.

It is important to note that while there is now scope to ease a range of public health measures, this approach must continue to be cautious, gradual and on a phased basis, with sufficient time between any easing of measures to assess the impact. This will be critical to ensuring the protection of the gains of recent months, the protection of those most vulnerable, and the protection of health and social care, education, and childcare services.

Significant progress has been made on suppressing the virus over recent months due to the huge effort of people across the country. By working together, we have saved lives and limited the impact of the disease on society in Ireland. We all must continue to do everything possible to continue to avoid the virus spreading and to support the safe reopening of activities over the coming months.

Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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754. To ask the Minister for Health the reason the daily Covid-19 figures by county have not been available at weekends; if there are plans to resume supplying this information; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24003/21]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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Under Infectious Diseases (Amendment) Regulations 2020, all medical practitioners are required to notify the Medical Officer of Health (MOH)/Director of Public Health (DPH) of certain diseases including Covid-19. Cases are then reported on a daily basis to the Department of Health by the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC).

Daily county numbers in the press release are flagged as being provisional as the national Computerised Infectious Disease Reporting System (CIDR) is a dynamic system and case details are continually being validated and updated.

In particular, cases may need additional validation in relation to the county of residence and you will see on a daily basis small differences between the daily county case numbers in the press release and those published on the COVID-19 data hub the following day.

In recent weeks it was agreed with the HPSC to discontinue the inclusion of the provisional daily county numbers for cases notified up to midnight the previous day in the press release at weekends.

While the provisional daily county numbers up to midnight the previous day are no longer included in the daily press release at weekends, the daily confirmed case counts up to midnight the day prior to this continue to be published on the COVID-19 data hub every day. This data is published at the same time as the daily press release. The additional time lag allows further validation of the case detail including details of county of residence. This data is also made available through the COVID-19 app every day.

A full series of the data is made available as open data.

This consists of the cumulative totals for each county for each day and is published in a number of formats (including CSV).

Further information:

Daily cumulative county confirmed case totals can be downloaded from the following link.