Irish Leader Says ‘Very Possible’ Covid-19 Was In Ireland As Early As Last Year​​​​​​​

By Staff, The Independent

Irish Leader Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said it is “very possible” that coronavirus reached Ireland in December last year – nearly two months before the country’s first confirmed case, The Independent reported.

Varadkar issued the warning after French authorities earlier this week revealed that a man had been infected with Covid-19 as far back as 27 December.

Referencing this, Varadkar said: “In some ways this is not surprising, France is well connected to China with dozens of flights every day – and Ireland is well connected to France.

“Indeed, it is very possible that this virus was already in Ireland last year or January this year and we should not assume it came here from Italy in late February just because the first confirmed case did so.”

The man promised that further research and retrospective testing will be carried out to “give us a better idea” of Ireland’s earliest cases, adding that “time will tell”.

He also rejected criticism that Ireland, having lowered the rate of Covid-19 transmission thanks to its lockdown measures, has been slow to return to normality compared to other countries.

The coronavirus death toll in Ireland rose to 1,375 on Wednesday after 37 more deaths were announced.