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Tonight a record of 1,276 new cases of Covid-19 in the Republic was confirmed, when the Government met to discuss Nphet’s recommendation to go to level 5. This exceeds the 1,095 cases confirmed on Wednesday, October 14 at the beginning of this week and 1,068 confirmed cases. on April 15.
Tonight’s figures also include eight deaths from Covid-19, five of which occurred in October, two in September and one in June.
Dublin had the highest number of confirmed cases today with 278 reported cases, followed by Cork with 149 and Meath with 108 recorded cases.
The announcement of the record number of infections came as HSE CEO Paul Reid said that hospitals in Ireland are coping but under pressure.
Reid said management and staff are trying to protect non-Covid services in the healthcare system but are concerned that HSE staff will contract the coronavirus after becoming infected as a result of community spread.
I spoke to our hospital managers and consultants now. Feedback, 1. Coping but under pressure. 2. Trying to protect non-Covid care 3. Concern that staff will contract viruses in communities at a key time when we need them. Public actions are key now to keep all services running. @HSELive
– Paul Reid (@paulreiddublin) October 17, 2020
The total number of cases in Ireland since the outbreak began has now reached 48,678, while the total number of Covid-related deaths has reached 1,849.
A further breakdown of the case data among patients shows:
- 644 are men / 631 are women
- 69% are under 45 years old
- The average age is 31 years.
- 107 cases are in Galway, 80 cases in Wexford, and the remaining 554 cases are spread across 21 counties.
- 260 Covid-19 patients in Ireland have been hospitalized, of which 30 are in intensive care. There were 19 additional hospitalizations in the past 24 hours.
- 18 patients with Covid-19 were discharged from the hospital in the last 24 hours. 2 patients were discharged from intensive care.
The latest case numbers and data come as the Government meets to consider the latest recommendation from the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) to escalate Covid-19 restrictions to Level 5.
The cabinet subcommittee received a briefing this afternoon from CMO Dr. Tony Holohan and Deputy CMO Dr. Ronan Glynn on the current status of the coronavirus in Ireland.
Government Ministers Stephen Donnelly, Paschal Donohoe and Michael McGrath were also present. This is the second time in two weeks that Nphet recommends the introduction of Tier 5 measures.
Arriving at government buildings for the meeting, Green Party leader Eamon Ryan warned against hasty decisions, but said no options should be ruled out.
Mr. Ryan said, “You don’t want to rush. [To] make the right decision that it may take a little time to consider all the options, I don’t think we should rule anything out. ”
Ryan added that he wants to see more data on how some counties are doing with new restrictions as the number of cases appears to stabilize.
“In certain counties, it seems to have stabilized a bit, so I don’t think we should be categorical and so I’m looking forward to looking at all the numbers to see some evidence of further stabilization, which is what we want,” he said. Mr. Ryan.
In Northern Ireland 1,031 new cases of coronavirus have been confirmed today.
This brings the total number of confirmed cases in Northern Ireland since the outbreak began to 26,208 and the death toll has now reached 610 after two more deaths were recorded.
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