A leading doctor and former Government Minister has called for Ireland’s Chief Medical Officer to step aside over his handling of the coronavirus outbreak.
Dr Jimmy McDaid told Donegal Daily that Ireland is already too late in trying to contain the virus because of the lack of steps it has taken towards preventing the virus coming into the country.
The former Minister for Tourism and Sport, who is part of a busy medical practice in Letterkenny, said he thinks the numbers of people diagnosed with the virus in Ireland will ramp up this week.
He even predicted that Ireland could experience its first death as a result of the outbreak this week.
Dr McDaid claims that in his opinion, Chief Medical Officer, Dr Tony Holohan, has failed to proper address the situation.
“Everybody is following the advice of the Chief Medical Officer. They are putting all on his advice which is based on the advice of the World Health Organisation (WHO).
“This advice is mostly based on how the virus is being spread on continents but there is nothing about island countries like Ireland and the UK.
“I feel the Chief Medical Officer should step aside. He has done multiple television appearances but has said nothing new. He just keeps saying we are in containment, etc,” said Dr McDaid.
Dr McDaid also questioned Taoiseach Leo Varadkar’s handling of the situation considering he is also a qualified doctor.
“The expression on the Taoiseach’s face makes me feel he is just following the Chief Medical Officer’s words as well. Does he really as a doctor believe it?#8221; asked Dr McDaid.
He said the Government should step in and take control of the situation as they did with the Foot and Mouth outbreak.
And he worryingly forecast that Ireland could see its first death from the virus as early as the end of this week.
“The end of the week will be a very different story and we will see a real spread of the virus here and possibly our first fatality. You have to remember that not everyone (with the virus) will come forward.
“It will spread faster now that it is community-driven,” he warned.