People living in Laois – as well as Offaly and Kildare – will be put under partial lockdown from midnight tonight in a bid to curb the spread of Coronavirus in the three counties.
These Government restrictions are set to remain in place for two weeks from August 8 until August 22.
Bars who were serving food, restaurants and cafes will have to close unless they are doing takeaway service or have outdoor dining.
All sporting events and matches will be cancelled. Cinemas, theatres, museums, galleries, bingo halls, casinos, betting shops and other indoor recreational and cultural outlets will also be closed.
Gyms, leisure centres, swimming pools, exercise and dance studios, sports clubs and similar venues will also close.
People living in Laois, Kildare and Offaly will only be allowed to travel within their own county unless it is for work or medical appointments, or for family or farming reasons.
Indoor gatherings will be restricted to six people while outdoor gatherings will be limited to 15 people – so sports training can take place like that.
There will be no travel into those three counties other than for work, medical reasons or other essential reasons like farming.
People can travel through the three counties to get to their destination but they must not stop.
Shops and hairdressers will be allowed to remain open while so too will creches – and preparations to reopen schools will continue.
This all comes after Acting Chief Medical Officer Dr Ronan Glynn issued a stern warning to the people of Laois, Offaly and Kildare at last night’s Department of Health press briefing.
Dr Glynn says that in the last 14 days, almost half of Ireland’s total cases have been located in these three counties.
He said that the National Public Health Emergency Team had been notified of ‘a serious amount of new cases’ in the three counties.
While they are not included in last night’s figures, Dr Glynn took the unprecedented step of warning people they were coming and urging them to act accordingly if they experienced symptoms or had been in touch with a confirmed case.
SEE ALSO – Laois GAA announce ‘all games proceeding’ following advice from Leinster Council
