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The Health Department has reported another 1,025 Covid-19 cases, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 57,128.
There have been no more deaths. There have been a total of 1,882 Covid-19 related deaths in Ireland.
As of 2:00 p.m. today, 315 patients are hospitalized with Covid-19. The number of patients in the ICU is from one to 38.
There have been 16 additional hospitalizations in the last 24 hours.
Of the cases reported today, 508 are men and 506 are women and 71% are under 45 years of age.
The average age of the current cases is 31 years.
Today’s case breakdown is: 255 cases in Dublin, 147 in Cork, 77 in Galway, 54 in Kildare, 53 in Donegal, and the remaining 439 cases are spread across 21 counties.
In Northern Ireland, there have been eight more deaths related to Covid-19 and 896 new cases of the virus, the Department of Health said.
The death toll recorded by the department now stands at 653.
34,105 cases have been confirmed in Northern Ireland.
There are currently 317 Covid-19 patients in hospital treatment, with 37 in intensive care.
Covid-19 testing positivity rate is declining, says HSE chief
The Executive Director of the Health Services Executive has said that the test positivity rate for Covid-19 continues to decline and that the average number of close contacts per person is now three, from 4.5.
In a post on Twitter, Paul Reid said: “The test positivity rate has dropped in the last 8 days. The number of close contacts has now dropped to an average of 3.
“Most of the close contacts are domestic. Still very early, but hey. We are all part of the solution. Let’s get on with this.”
The positivity rate in tests has dropped in the last 8 days. The number of close contacts has now been reduced to an average. of 3. Most close contacts are from home. Still very early but good. We’re all part of the solution. Let’s get on with this. @HSELive # COVID-19
– Paul Reid (@paulreiddublin) October 25, 2020
Speaking in Newstalk, Reid said that the positive test rate in the past eight days had dropped to just over 5.5% and that the majority of close contacts are now people within the household, family contacts rather than social contacts. .
He also said that it was absolutely essential that people identified as close contacts restrict their movements for 14 days, even if they test negative.
Mr. Reid said it is wrong for employers to ask people to go back to work if they test negative.
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In relation to recent difficulties with contact tracing, Reid said last weekend was “overwhelming” and that HSE was detected by uncontrolled levels of the virus in the community, going from 8,000 calls per week to 28,000 per week in a short time.
He said it was a challenge and he regretted what had happened and it was fixed.
Mr. Reid also said that although the signs in terms of positive tests are good, the HSE still needs members of the public to help change the situation.
Covid-19 cannot be contained among younger age groups – Henry
Elsewhere, HSE Clinical Director Dr. Colm Henry has said that Covid-19 cannot be contained among younger age groups.
Speaking on RTÉ’s This Week program, he said it was “inevitable” that with the level of community transmission we have been seeing, those in non-vulnerable groups could see “serious diseases.”
Dr Henry pointed to ECDC’s most recent assessment by saying that “it is becoming increasingly difficult to protect vulnerable groups, and serious illnesses inevitably occur in people outside of vulnerable groups.”
Dr. Henry said that despite the slight drop in the number of hospitals, it is still too early to say if things are stabilizing.
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