Five deaths and 248 new confirmed cases in Ireland

OVER 248 new cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed in Ireland, the Department of Health said tonight.

The total number of confirmed cases is now 34,560.

In a statement, it said that five other people who were confirmed to have Covid-19 had died.

The death toll from Covid-19 in Ireland is 1,802.

Of today’s cases, 104 are in Dublin, 37 in Donegal, 36 in Cork, 8 in Kildare, 8 in Westmeath, 6 in Kilkenny, 6 in Laois, 6 in Offaly, 5 in Longford, 5 in Monaghan, 5 in Wexford and the remaining 22 cases are in 11 other counties.

36% of cases are confirmed to be associated with outbreaks or are close contacts of a confirmed case, while 36 cases have been identified as community transmission.

67% of current cases are under 45 years of age.

Meanwhile, health officials in Northern Ireland reported 319 new cases, the largest daily increase in cases there since the pandemic began.

“Today’s dashboard figures once again underline the gravity of the situation we are facing. Unfortunately, another person died and the number of positive cases is the highest on record, ”said Health Minister Robin Swann.

On Friday, Acting Medical Director Dr Ronan Glynn and his Northern Ireland counterpart Dr Michael McBride specifically called on teens and people in their 20s and 30s in Co Donegal and Derry to reduce your social contacts.

Medical chiefs said they were concerned about the significant proportion of cases in young people in Donegal and Derry, and asked teenagers and people in their 20s and 30s in particular to reduce their social contacts.

The HSE says it is working to identify any contacts that patients may have had to provide them with information and advice to prevent further spread.

The chair of the HSE Coronavirus Expert Advisory Group said this afternoon that work is underway to bring the country’s testing capacity to where it needs to be.

“What we want to do from a testing perspective is we want to be able to meet the demand that exists,” Dr. Cillian De Gascun told RTÉ Radio One on Saturday with Katie Hannon.

He said the HSE has worked hard to ensure that there is “a resilience and robustness that was not there in March or April,” but that the recent return of schools highlighted that probation was not enough.

“We are monitoring a number of metrics that look at GP referrals in the system, swab capacity at community centers, and test capacity within labs.”