The Chief Medical Officer has warned that there are rapidly increasing growth rates of Covid-19 across the country.
Dr Tony Holohan was responding to the latest figures showing two Covid-19-related deaths and 814 new cases of the disease notified to the Department of Health yesterday.
The cumulative number of cases here is now 42,528 while the death toll stands at 1,826.
Dr Tony Holohan said that “22 out of 26 counties have seven day incidence rates as a percentage of 14 day incidence rates above 50%. This shows rapidly increasing growth rates across the country.”
He urged people to keep their social contacts to an absolute minimum and maintain a physical distance from others.
The Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly, said the number of new cases was “disappointing” but added that they do not yet reflect “the impact of changes to our behaviour since the whole country was moved to Level 3”.
He said it was “encouraging” that the latest figures suggested transmission is slowing in Dublin. “The R (reproductive) number in Dublin is now estimated to be at 1. This is also encouraging.”
Minister Donnelly added: “Our numbers remain too high across the country but we can still suppress this virus. Let’s continue to work together to do so. Individual actions are key and we can all make a difference.”
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He denied there were plans for a longer mid-term break for schools and also said a ‘circuit breaker’ lockdown was not being considered at present.
During the last week, 4,510 new Covid cases have been confirmed in Ireland – with every county represented.
It is almost 1,500 more than the previous week – and compares to just over 1,300 cases four weeks ago. Over the last week, the deaths of 17 more people with the virus were also reported.
Meanwhile there were 1,066 new cases of coronavirus recorded in Northern Ireland yesterday. It is the second time it has recorded more than 1,000 new cases in three days.
Based on population sizes, that is equivalent to over 2,700 south of the border.
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