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Young people in Ireland are to be congratulated on a “drastic reduction” in the number of coronavirus cases, according to medical director Dr. Tony Holohan.
Dr. Holohan has thanked people ages 19-24 for their efforts to reduce the spread of the virus in the Republic at today’s Covid-19 press conference.
That age group, he said, has seen incidence rates drop from 450 per 100,000 to 150 per 100,000 in just two weeks.
“We estimate the reproduction number at 0.7 – 0.9. This is a testament to our collective effort to stop the spread of the virus and it is very good news. We may be improving now, but it depends on whether we keep it. “@President_MU # COVID-19
– Department of Health (@roinnslainte) November 5, 2020
“They have also cut their contacts in half in the last five weeks,” he said.
“We must all acknowledge the efforts of our youth and I thank them.”
The National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) announced three more deaths of people with Covid-19 and 591 new cases of the virus on Thursday night.
Of the latter cases, 120 occurred in Dublin, 75 in Donegal, 50 in Cork, 46 in Kerry, 44 in Limerick and the remaining 256 cases were distributed in another 20 counties.
Dr Holohan also praised Ireland’s overall performance against the virus.
“There is a second increase taking place across Europe. Ireland and Finland are the only EU countries where 14-day incidence reductions have been observed. All other countries are increasing, ”he said.
“Tier 5 efforts over the past two weeks have succeeded in further reducing community transmission and disease incidence in Ireland, however now is not the time to be complacent.
“We must keep reducing this disease, we must keep going.”
Professor Philip Nolan, chairman of the Nphet Epidemiological Models Advisory Group, estimated the virus’s reproduction rate between 0.7 and 0.9.
“This is a testament to our collective effort to stop the spread of the virus and it is very good news.
“We may be improving now, but it depends on whether we continue like this. If we continue to use this time to reduce infection, we will be in a good position in four weeks. “
As for the current coronavirus restrictions, no date was suggested for the relaxations.
Dr. Holohan said: “We do not anticipate changing our advice regarding the type of measures that are in effect during the six weeks.
“But obviously we keep the whole situation under review.”
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