HEALTH OFFICIALS HAVE confirmed there have been no further deaths from Covid-19.

Figures from the Department of Health this evening also show another 93 cases of the virus have been notified to the National Public Health Emergency Team.

It brings the total number of Covid-19 cases in the Republic of Ireland to 28,453*. The total number of deaths now stands at 1,777.

Of the 93 cases notified today:

• 52 are men, and 41 are women
• 70% are under 45 years of age
• 73 are associated with outbreaks or are close contacts of a confirmed case
• 12 cases have been identified as community transmission
• 34 in Dublin, 7 in Kildare, 6 in Donegal, 6 in Laois, 5 in Limerick, 5 in Wexford and the remaining 30 cases are in Carlow, Cavan, Clare, Cork, Louth, Meath. Monaghan, Offaly, Tipperary, Westmeath and Wicklow.

How cases are increasing

There have been 392 active Covid-19 outbreaks which are still being managed by public health officials, of which 252 are related to social gatherings in private houses.

There has been one outbreak in a pub-restaurant that involved 26 cases, and that subsequently led to 10 additional cases in another workplace.

Another restaurant had 19 cases and this involved staff, customers, and was associated with a separate family outbreak. 

Another outbreak involved six cases in a sports club, and there was then transmission at an associated social gathering resulting in 19 further cases.

There was an outbreak in a retail outlet that involved seven cases among staff, some of whom worked while symptomatic. 

This breakdown of cases was given by Dr John Cuddihy, Director of the Health Protection Surveillance Centre.

“We are identifying outbreaks in a number of different settings such as private homes, workplaces and social settings,” Dr Cuddihy said.

Congregated settings are ideal environments for this disease to spread between people. We all must avoid such congregations if we are going to break the chains of transmission of the virus.

Reaction

Health Minister Stephen Donnelly urged people to maintain social distancing when meeting up with people, even if it is a friend or relative.

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Acting Chief Medical Officer Dr Ronan Glynn said there was a “slow growth” of Covid-19 in Ireland and urged people to reduce their contacts.

“If we do this and keep practicing the other safe behaviours by continuing to physical distance, avoid crowds, wash our hands, cover our coughs and sneezes, wear a face mask where appropriate and download the Covid Tracker app, we have a real chance of slowing the spread of the virus to where we want it to be.”

Professor Philip Nolan, Chair of the NPHET Irish Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group, said: “The R-number is now between 1 and 1.2. While this is an improvement on what we have seen recently, it is still not where we want to be.”

*Validation of data at the Health Protection Surveillance Centre has resulted in the denotification of three confirmed cases. 

With reporting from Stephen McDermott