Expert group: Covid policy came at “great cost” to society and economy

An expert group has said that while Ireland lost comparatively fewer people to the COVID-19 virus than some other countries it came at a “a great cost to society, as well as the economy, and made clear some weaknesses in our public health and wider systems”.

A report from the Public Health Reform Expert Advisory Group said that “COVID‑19 affected people’s scheduled health care and programmes designed to help prevent disease such as the pausing of cancer screening programmes during the first wave.