France, Ireland follow England in lifting of COVID restrictions

France and Ireland are following England in announcing the lifting of a host of COVID-19 restrictions.

The Irish Independent reported Friday that the majority of COVID restrictions in Ireland will be removed by 6 a.m. Saturday, including vaccine passports. The paper said the government also will eliminate “limits on household visits, early closing time for hospitality and events, capacity restrictions for indoor and outdoor events including weddings, social distancing, the rule-of-six at a table … and the requirement to maintain contact details for close contact tracing.”

The moves mark the “end game” for the pandemic, said Luke O’Neill, a professor of biochemistry and Immunology at Trinity College Dublin in Ireland.

“I’m smiling here, tonight,” O’Neill said in an interview Friday with RTÉ Ireland, the national TV and radio broadcaster.

The government, the health scientist said, “must have accepted that the pandemic is coming to an end and we’re in the endemic phase of this disease.” – READ MORE