DUBLIN (Reuters) – Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar raised the prospect on Friday of halving social distancing rules from two metres to one if the rate of coronavirus infections comes down further in a potential boost to still shuttered restaurants and pubs.
Facing one of the longest shutdowns in Europe, Ireland’s hospitality sector has called for the guidelines to be eased in line with a number of other European countries, saying it could be the difference between some operators reopening or not.
“Before we can relax that rule and maybe reduce it to 1 (metre), which I know a lot of people would like, we just need to see the virus come down a bit more. We’re not at that point yet but I think there’s a good chance we get there, just not quite yet,” Varadkar told Ireland’s FM104 radio station.
(Reporting by Padraic Halpin; Editing by Toby Chopra)
