Covid passes set to be required for hairdressers and gyms

Major concerns about rising Covid cases

Ministers and health experts have grown increasingly worried as Covid cases continue to rise. Cabinet will meet today to discuss methods to tackle the current wave of Covid infections. The Government is now advising people to work from home where possible and are looking to extend the use of Covid certs and booster vaccines to prevent the situation from getting worse. HSE chief executive Paul Reid told a Cabinet subcommittee on Monday night that there is a greater risk now for the health service than we have seen during the entire pandemic. The use of vaccine passes is set to be extended to include gyms and hairdressers as well as introducing a subsidy for antigen tests as a way to encourage their use. [caption id="attachment_539985" align="alignnone" width="2048"] Pic: Rolling News[/caption] Speaking to the Irish Independent, Chief Medical Officer Tony Holohan said that he was in favour of the introduction of Covid passes to these businesses. "Of course we would be in favour. The more we can see assurance of measures in place in different settings, the better," he said. "We would have no reason to have any concern about that and nothing to stop people in those sectors saying, ‘That’s an additional security and safety measure that I can put in place to protect my staff, to protect my customers.’ That would be a good thing." Cabinet met last night to discuss new Covid policies, while Taoiseach Michéal Martin said they will look into subsidising antigen tests to make them more affordable as well as discussing extending digital Covid cert use. Speaking in Navan at the opening of a new housing estate, Martin said that extending the use of Covid certs on other parts of society is still being discussed. "Behaviour is key, obviously. As society reopens that reduces that level of compliance and behaviour changes, understandably. I think we have to adjust our behaviours both individually and collectively as groups as families," he said.