NPHET believe cases of the South African Covid variant have been contained here

A senior member of NPHET believes the three confirmed cases of the South African Covid variant have been contained here.

They were reported yesterday, and are all directly linked with travel from the country to Ireland.

The European Centre for Disease Control has warned the mutation could have increased transmissibility, and research is ongoing to see if vaccines are effective against it.

It comes as 1,285 confirmed cases are in hospitals around the country, with 119 patients receiving treatment in ICU.

Dr Cillian de Gascun, director of the National Virus Reference Laboratory, doesn’t believe the new variant was passed on from the three people that were identified: The people identified, isolated on arrival and followed all protocol.