Midlocked

Residents of three counties woke up to yet another “new normal” yesterday as Garda checkpoints were mounted in Kildare, Laois and Offaly.

- Sylvia Pownall

The hastily-announced local lockdown has sparked a massive backlash from businesses who say they will not recover from a second hammer blow.

The warning came as an alarming 174 new cases were announced, with one more death from Covid-19 recorded in the past 24 hours.

Dr Kingston Mills warned the measures were a necessary evil – and could last longer than two weeks.

Brian Purcell, of Kildare Chamber, blasted Taoiseach Micheal Martin and Health Minister Stephen Donnelly.

He said: “This is just stupid, absolutely stupid. We’re absolutely furious here with the shower that is in charge.

“We seem to be expendable here in the Midlands. There’s outbreaks in Dublin, they didn’t shut that place down did they? Naas is absolutely dead here, you can nearly see the dust flying up the street. You’d swear we were in the middle of a zombie movie.

“Micheal, Leo and Stephen, stop running the country by Twitter.”

Mr Purcell said tackling meat factories, house parties and international travel was the way to contain the outbreak.

Meanwhile, hundreds of school children due to make their First Confirmation were told at 6pm on Friday it had been cancelled. Bridesto-be were also left devastated as their wedding venues, booked months in advance, were left with no option but to close their doors.

WEDDING