There have been a further 814 confirmed cases of Coronavirus as well as two further deaths, according to the figures released this evening.
Of the cases notified today;
- 432 are men/381 are women
- 70% are under 45 years of age
- The median age is 32 years old
- 226 in Dublin, 77 in Cork, 64 in Galway, 56 in Donegal, 48 in Meath and the remaining 343 cases are spread across all remaining counties.
As of 2pm today 204 COVID-19 patients are hospitalised, of which 30 are in ICU. 16 additional hospitalisations in the past 24 hours.
Dr. Tony Holohan, Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health said; “It is vital that the entire population consistently implement public health advice into their daily lives; keep your social contacts to an absolute minimum and keep physical distance when you need to be out of your home.
“22 out of 26 counties have 7 day incidence rates as a percentage of 14 day incidence rates above 50%. This shows rapidly increasing growth rates across the country.”
Meanwhile, Taoiseach Micheal Martin has cast doubt on speculation that the government may be considering a ‘circuit break’ type lockdown in an attempt to curb rising rates of Covid-19.
His comments come after Tánaiste Leo Varadkar suggested that a “short, hard lockdown to knock the virus on the head again” – or a circuit break – could be considered and implemented by the government in the near future.
Writing in today’s Sunday Independent, the Fine Gael leader warned that any second lockdown would have far-reaching impacts that would all have to be considered before such an option was chosen.
Speaking to RTÉ News today, Martin said that a circuit break was an “experimental” concept.
“I’m not convinced that any such move would be a temporary move and I think we need to be clear with people on that.
“In other words, the idea of locking everything down for two weeks and being able to come back as normal, I’m not so sure that’s a runner,” he said.
“But that needs to be teased out, if that’s what’s been articulated and debated,” he added.
Earlier, Martin released a statement that suggested that the country still has time to avoid moving to tougher restrictions.
“If we all change our behaviours and work together we can make Level 3 work, protect lives and livelihoods, show that we can contain the virus and prevent its growth,” he said.
“The coming weeks will be challenging but working with NPHET, we will respond firmly and appropriately. We have the capacity and resources to come through this and we will.”
