HEALTH OFFICIALS HAVE confirmed that a further five people have died with Covid-19 in Ireland. 

The number of people with coronavirus in Ireland who have sadly died now stands at 1,984.

The National Public Health Emergency Team has also said that a further 456 cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed, bringing the total number of cases in Ireland to 68,356*.

Of the cases notified today:

• 199 are men and 257 are women
• 69% are under 45 years of age
• The median age is 34 years old
• 105 in Dublin, 85 in Limerick, 43 in Cork, 38 in Meath, 25 in Clare and the remaining 160 cases are spread across 21 other counties.

There are 274 Covid-19 patients who have been hospitalised, of which 33 are in ICU. There have been 10 hospitalisations in the past 24 hours

According to the Covid Data hub, 11,106 Covid-19 tests have been carried out in the past 24 hours, and 75,951 in the last seven days. The positive rate in the last seven days has been 3.8%, lower than the total positive rate since the start of the pandemic of 4%. 

HPSC HPSC

‘Stick with us’

Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr Ronan Glynn says NPHET is concerned that the positive trajectory they’ve been reporting in recent weeks has “at best stalled”.

According to a number of indicators, including daily case numbers, he said it may be deteriorating. 

Though there was no one cause of an increase in cases, Glynn listed some examples of outbreaks and clusters in recent days.

These include workplaces – the construction sector and food processing sectors were mentioned – and funerals, as well as student gatherings (one in Limerick was specifically mentioned) and extended family gatherings.

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Dr Glynn asked people to focus on adhering to the restrictions for the next 10 days to two weeks. When asked by TheJournal.ie about exiting Level 5 in two weeks’ time, Dr Glynn said:

One of the biggest single detriments to our progress is an overt focus on where we might be in six weeks’ time. 

We don’t know where we’ll be in two weeks’ time… What dictates that is what people do today, tomorrow and the next day.

 ”The last thing we want is more people getting sick, the last thing we want is more people in hospital, the last thing we want is further deaths,” Dr Glynn said.

Glynn said that scenes of people drinking on the street in Dublin and Cork at the weekend were “frustrating” for a lot of people, including older people and other vulnerable people who may have been cocooning for months.

“Stick with us… I know people are tired,” Dr Glynn said. “I think in broad terms, people may just be getting tired of listening to the messages.”

*Validation of data at the HPSC has resulted in three confirmed cases being denotified. This is reflected in the case total above.

With reporting from Hayley Halpin.