There have been a further nine deaths from Coronavirus and nine new cases confirmed by the Department of Health today.
The nine new deaths is the joint highest in the month of June so far but the nine new cases equals yesterday’s number, which was the lowest since mid-March before any restrictions were put in place.
There is currently 110 patients with Coronavirus in hospital around the country with 35 of those in ICU.
In all, there is now 25,215 cases in the country and a total of 1,691 deaths.
As of midnight last night, 367,780 tests have been carried out – with 19,364 tests in the past week. Of those tests carried out, 185 tests were positive.
Dr Tony Holohan, the chief medical officer of the Department of Health, said today that while the situation continues to improve “now is not the time to take the foot off the pedal”.
Elsewhere, the hospitality sector have outlined a range of measures that will come into play when hotels, bars and restaurants re-open later this month.
Self serve buffets will disappear in hotels when they re-open, while the seating in bars and restaurants will be significantly reduced, according to new guidance for the hospitality sector published by Fáilte Ireland.
Last week, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar warned that summer was not lost as he set out an updated roadmap that would see the tourism industry re-open.
Table service, in particular, will look very different. The Fáilte Ireland guidance, published this morning, states that bar snacks and finger food will no longer be shared and will instead be served to individual guests.
Tableside cooking will also be suspended if physical distancing isn’t possible, while staff will be required to maintain physical distancing from customers.
Menus will also become “single use or made of a material that can easily be cleaned”, the guidance states.
The guidance also adds that staff could instead tell customers verbally what’s on the menu.
In hotels, along with more physically distance room service, mini bars will become very different.
“Minibars must have all loose product removed and the bar then be locked. Items can be made available upon request from Room Service,” the guidance says.
While it remains to be seen whether pools and gyms will be allowed to re-open, the Fáilte Ireland guidance states that significant changes will need to be introduced.
Viewing chairs and seating will be removed, while guests will be encouraged to use their rooms for changing.
A two-metre distance in gyms should be tightly enforced by staff.
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