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The acting medical director has said that now is a critical time to stop the spread of Covid-19 in Dublin.
Dr. Ronan Glynn renewed his appeal to people living and working in the capital to reduce their social contacts, as cases of the virus continue to increase.
Yesterday, the Department of Health reported 159 new cases of coronavirus and two more deaths.
Almost half of the cases occurred in the city and county of Dublin.
Health officials say the increase is being driven by groups of households, with just over half of new cases associated with outbreaks or close contacts of a confirmed case.
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Dr. Glynn said individual choices can make a difference.
He called on people to reconsider their plans for the rest of the weekend by reducing contacts and avoiding social activities that involve large groups.
Dr. Glynn said that maintaining a physical distance of two meters, even when meeting with friends, family or colleagues, is the best way to keep everyone safe.
Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said Ireland has done “pretty well” but “can always do better” when it comes to testing for Covid-19.
He said the government’s approach has been based on the advice of the World Health Organization to “try, test, test, trace contacts as quickly as possible.”
When asked why issues like testability, test turnaround time, and speed of contact tracing are still debated more than six months after the crisis, Coveney said: “These issues have largely been resolved. We just ran 72,000 tests in the last week. That’s an extraordinary number. We have the capacity to test 100,000 per week and we’re probably going to need that capacity, and potentially more. “
The World Health Organization says that data to date suggest that 80% of Covid-19 infections are mild or asymptomatic, 15% are serious oxygen-requiring infections, and 5% are critical and require ventilation.
Generally, you must be 15 minutes or more close to and within two meters of an infected person to be considered at risk or in close contact.
Additional reports Conor Kane
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