Ireland lockdown worry as NPHET doc issues 'very concerning' Covid update in stark revelation

A top doctor and member of NPHET has confirmed that a Covid-19 variant with no link to international travel has been found in Ireland.

Dr Mary Favier, who is a former president of the Irish College of General Practitioners (ICGP), said the variants are "very small in numbers" with a tiny amount of cases discovered.

The leading health expert warned that "even though we're trying to bring down numbers, they're staying persistently high'.

Dr Favier told Newstalk Breakfast: "The variants of concern that are being noted in the last week or so are from South Africa and Brazil and the big concern about those is that they’ll undermine our vaccine programme.

"So we could have all this good work and people doing their best in terms of distancing and hand-washing and masks and we could have a really good vaccine rollout, and still be effectively back to square one.

"That’s why it’s very concerning to be finding these variants... [but they] can be counted on one hand."

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