Ten more weeks of strict Irish curbs as UK variant slows progress

FILE PHOTO: A boy plays with his dog on Sandymount strand, amid the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Dublin, Ireland February 14, 2021. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne

DUBLIN (Reuters) - Ireland will remain under significant restrictions until the end of April, Prime Minister Micheál Martin was quoted as saying on Thursday, as health officials warned the near dominance of the more infectious UK COVID-19 variant was slowing suppression.

Ireland has been back in lockdown for almost two months after a wide reopening of the economy in December led to its most deadly COVID-19 surge to date, just as the variant known as B1.1.7 identified in Britain started to become more prevalent.