LAST UPDATE | 23 May 2020

HEALTH OFFICIALS HAVE confirmed a further 13 people have died from Covid-19 in Ireland. 

There have now been a total 1,604 Covid-19 related deaths in Ireland.  There is now a total of 24,582 confirmed cases of coronavirus here.

Speaking at the press briefing at the Department of Health on Friday, Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan expressed concerns about the behaviour of some people since the Covid-19 restrictions were eased slightly on Monday. 

“There has been some congregation and we don’t expect we’re going to see 100% compliance all of the time by everybody. So some of the kinds of scenes you’ve described, I have seen one or two of them myself on social media, are exactly examples of things we don’t want to see happening,” Holohan said in response to questions at the briefing yesterday evening.

In the UK, calls have been made for Dominic Cummings to resign from his role as chief adviser to the Prime Minister after reports emerged he allegedly broke lockdown rules by travelling 260 miles from his London home.

Here are today’s Covid-19 main points: 

• A further 13 people have died from Covid-19 in Ireland and another 76 were confirmed to have the disease, the Department of Health confirmed this evening.
• HSE chief Paul Reid has urged the public to “hold firm” over Covid-19 restriction measures. 
• Dr Tony Holohan has expressed concerns about the behaviour of some people since Covid-19 restrictions were eased slightly on Monday. 
• The vast majority of people whose travel plans were cancelled after Usit went into liquidation in March will be able to claim refunds after the company’s online operations were bought.
• Psychologists at UCD and UCC are kicking off a survey looking at how the news has affected the public’s reaction to Covid-19. 

Here are today’s international Covid-19 points: 

• China has reported zero new Covid-19 cases for the first time since it started reporting data in January.
• Downing Street has said said Dominic Cummings believed he “behaved reasonably and legally” following reports he travelling more than 260 miles from his London home during Covid-19 restrictions
• US President Donald Trump said he has deemed churches and other houses of worship “essential” and called on governors to allow them to re-open this weekend.
• New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has dropped the state’s absolute ban on gatherings of any size, allowing up to 10 people to group together as long as they still abide by social distancing regulations.
• Brazil has overtaken Russia as the country with the second-highest number of Covid-19 cases worldwide.