Goodbody Stockbrokers today said despite cases of COVID-19 rising to record levels globally over the past week, there is some optimism that the pandemic may finally come to an end in 2022 as the more virulent but less severe Omicron strain withers over the coming months.

From an economic viewpoint, Goodbody say labour supply shortages due to the virus are likely to be the main headwind at the start of 2022. In Ireland, over 120,000 cases of the virus have been reported, a figure that is likely to underestimate its incidence in the community due to lack of testing capacity for this scale of surge.

This comes at a time when the average number of close contacts would be typically high over the holiday period. In this context, Goodbody say it is little surprise that Ireland is among several countries that reduced the number of days of isolation required, but this is unlikely to be enough to alleviate staffing shortages in certain sectors. This issue, however, should be a short-term phenomenon.

According to Goodbody Stockbrokers, "While risks remain, we take a positive stance at the start of 2022. The emerging evidence suggests that health systems will not face the same threat as it did a year ago. If this is the case, the end of two years of rolling restrictions looks to be in sight."

Source: www.businessworld.ie