PUBLIC HEALTH OFFICIALS have confirmed 3,680 new cases of Covid-19 in Ireland.

As of 8am today, there were 543 Covid-19 patients in hospital, of which 97 are in ICU.

Yesterday, there were 2,975 new cases of Covid-19, 551 people with the virus in hospital and 89 in ICU.

The National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) confirmed yesterday that there has been 74 deaths notified to them in the past week, bringing Ireland’s total to 5,566.

Last Wednesday, NPHET said there had been 56 deaths notified in the preceding week, and the previous Wednesday they said there had been 67.

Deaths related to Covid-19 are being announced on a weekly basis but this does not necessarily mean all deaths confirmed today occurred in the past week, as the system in Ireland allows a period of time for deaths to be registered.

At yesterday’s NPHET briefing, Deputy CMO Dr Ronan Glynn outlined that last week saw the third highest number of cases per week since the beginning of the pandemic, with almost 25,000 cases reported.

The only other seven-day periods that had more cases were the first and second weeks in January of this year. 

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The Chief Medical Officer is urging people to consider reducing their social interactions by half over the next two weeks in order to reduce the number of Covid-19 infections.

“If you’re planning to go out two nights a week, maybe just go out once. If you’re planning to have 10 people over to the house for a particular event, maybe just have five,” Dr Tony Holohan has urged people.