LAST UPDATE | 7 Mar 2020

LAST NIGHT, FIVE new cases of Covid-19 were confirmed in the Republic of Ireland. Of the five cases, three were as a result of travel.

This brings the total in Ireland to 18 over the course of a week. The majority of cases are related to travel from northern Italy. In one case, it’s not known where the person contracted Covid-19.

Here are the main points that you need to know:

• Five new cases were confirmed in the Republic of Ireland, bringing the total to 18
• There’s only one case of community transmission so far in Ireland in a male patient at Cork University Hospital (CUH)
• A fourth case was confirmed in Northern Ireland this morning
• There are over 100,000 confirmed cases of Covid-19 worldwide. 3,488 people have died, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC)
• Italy has over 4,600 cases, with 197 deaths, and the UK has 144 cases with two deaths
• 21 people on board a cruise ship near California have tested positive for Covid-19
• Scotland’s Women’s Six Nations match against France was postponed yesterday after a Scottish player tested positive for the new coronavirus.

Some precautions were taken by hospitals and colleges earlier in the week that you may have missed:

• Healthcare workers who have returned from high-risk areas are being told not to come into work for two weeks
• CUH has cancelled all outpatient appointments and restricted visitor access
• A pop-up testing facility in Clare, located in an old garda station, has “worked well”, the HSE said
• The Mater Hospital in Dublin is requesting that the public don’t visit the hospital
• A section of the Trinity College campus is closed as a precaution after a confirmed cases there
• The Restaurants Association of Ireland said that members are reporting 80% corporate booking cancellations as a result of Covid-19
• Taoiseach Leo Varadkar confirmed yesterday afternoon that there is currently no recommendation to cancel mass gatherings – including St Patrick’s Day.

The HSE’s main advice page on the coronavirus says:

The risk of catching coronavirus in Ireland is still low to moderate. This may change. However, most people may continue to go to work, school and other public places, as usual.

According to the most extensive study of the effect of the virus on patients, Covid-19 was benign in 80.9% of cases, “serious” in 13.8% and “critical” in 4.7%. The remaining 0.6% was not specified.

- with reporting from TheJournal.ie Team