seven new deaths and 777 new confirmed cases

There have been seven new deaths and 777 new confirmed Covid-19 cases in the state tonight.

Of the cases reported today, 182 are in Dublin, 81 in Galway, 44 in Wexford, 42 in Meath, 41 in Cork and the remaining 387 cases are spread over 21 remaining counties.

There were 319 patients hospitalized with the virus as of this afternoon, with 37 in intensive care. There were 24 additional hospitalizations in the last 24 hours.

Medical Director Dr. Tony Holohan said: “15,000 people have been diagnosed with Covid-19 in the last 14 days.

I appeal to everyone to behave as if they are a close contact. Stay home, except for essential reasons.

“It is vital for all newly diagnosed people to isolate themselves for the full 10 days to protect the people they live with, the people they love, and the people in their communities from this highly infectious disease,” he said.

Dr. Holohan said that isolating yourself means staying home, ideally in a room alone and away from other members of the household as much as possible.

He added that close contacts of a confirmed case must restrict their movements for 14 days, staying home without attending work or school.

“I appeal to everyone to behave as if they are a close contact. Stay home except for essential reasons, “said Dr. Holohan.

“Now is the time to tap into our energy reserves and deepen our efforts to follow public health advice: keep your distance, wash your hands, and wear a face covering. Do your part to break the chains of transmission between families and neighbors. and communities “.

Test and follow up

The figures come as one of the country’s main laboratories processing Covid-19 tests has said it will not be able to operate for the next two weekends due to “unavoidable staff shortages.”

It also emerged this week that 2,500 Covid-19 positive people were asked to conduct their own contact tracing as the tracking system was overwhelmed.

However, the director of the National Virus Reference Laboratory, Dr. Cillian de Gascun, said that the staff shortage this weekend and next “will have no impact” on the testing capacity of Covid-19.

People have been urged to act as if they are close contacts of the virus, as the risk of being exposed to Covid-19 is now 100 times higher than four months ago, the Health Department warned.

Speaking yesterday, Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr. Heather Burns said: “The 14-day incidence was three per 100,000 at the end of June, today it is 302 per 100,000 population.

“The risk of being exposed to Covid-19 is now 100 times higher than four months ago,” he said.

There were five more deaths and 1,252 additional new cases of the virus confirmed on the island of Ireland in the north today.

The weekly death toll from Covid-19 in Northern Ireland has nearly quadrupled.