Over by summer – if we comply says Mullingar professor

(Above) Professor Kingston Mills.

It will be June or July at the earliest before the threat from the coronavirus recedes and life can return to normal.

That’s according to Mullingar native Kingston Mills, professor of experimental immunology at TCD, who believes that “optimistically” it will take two or three months before the Covid-19 threat is under control and restrictions introduced lifted.

Speaking to the Westmeath Examiner yesterday, Prof Mills said it was “absolutely essential” that the government introduced more stringent restrictions in a bid to slow the spread of the virus.

“This lockdown is an attempt to distance people from each other. It’s to stop the transmissions and give the hospitals a chance to deal with the inevitable escalation of numbers that we are going to see over the next couple of weeks. It’s about giving the hospitals breathing space.”

Professor Mills added the while he supports the restrictions that the government have put in place, he is surprised that the borders have not been closed and international travel banned.

“The risks with flying are huge – I am not talking about commercial flights which are bringing in much needed supplies for the medical services; those are marginal risks – it’s the passenger flights that are still coming in. How can social isolate on a plane? Flights are coming from countries where the infection rates are worse than they are here. You’re making it more difficult to contain the thing by continuing to allow travel in and out of Ireland. That’s the only area the government need to do more in trying to curtail all international travel into the country apart from commercial travel for both food and medical supplies and other essential goods. It is still at the discretion of the passengers, and in my opinion that should be changed.”

Although he says that the development of a vaccine is the only long-term solution in the fight against the coronavirus, if people strictly comply to the restrictions introduced over the last month, Prof Mills says that the current public health crisis could be over by the summer.

“It very much depends on people complying with them [the measures introduced by the government]and us doing the right things,” he said.