Three deaths and 84 new cases

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There have been three more deaths from Covid-19 and 84 additional cases reported to the Department of Health.

There have now been a total of 1,781 coronavirus-related deaths in Ireland and 30,164 confirmed cases.

Dr. Ronan Glynn, Acting Medical Director, said: “We continue to see a disturbing pattern of cases, particularly in Dublin.

“Transmission is diffuse across the county, across all age groups, and driven primarily by social interaction within and between households.”

About half of all new cases in Dublin are transfers to private homes. Dr. Glynn said the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) is “very concerned” about the situation.

He said that “if possible,” family gatherings with various people from different households, such as communions and baptisms, should stop for now.

Dr. Glynn said he wasn’t talking about weddings, they were special events that people had spent a lot of time planning. “But inviting people to dinner, for example, you don’t know for sure if they are healthy or if you are healthy.”

When asked about a possible closure in Dublin, he did not want to speculate, but NPHET will meet tomorrow to make recommendations to the Government.

“Tomorrow there will be a strong message about reducing social contacts,” Dr. Glynn said.

In pubs, he said innkeepers know what to do to keep people safe.

But I would ask the bar owners to sit down with their staff tonight and “take a look at the plan they have in place for coronavirus cases.”

“If something doesn’t change, we will be in a worse position in a few weeks,” Dr. Glynn said.

Professor Philip Nolan, Chairman of NPHET’s Irish Epidemiological Modeling Advisory Group, said: “While the replication number for Ireland as a whole is close to 1.0, the replication number for Dublin is only about 1.4.

“We are seeing an increasing number of cases in Dublin, growing about 5% per day. If this continued, the number of cases would double every 14 days.”

“Given the size of Dublin’s population, it is essential that we prevent further spread now by limiting our social contacts and taking precautions during any essential contact.”

He said our five-day average of cases has risen from 100 to 120 to 172 in the last few days. We have seen a “clear and progressive increase” in the number of people admitted to the hospital.

“Unfortunately, there have been four confirmed deaths in the last five days, so the deaths are increasing after being zero for several weeks,” added Professor Nolan.

He said an increase in cases among the age group 85 and older in recent weeks was a concern.

Dr. Colm Henry, HSE Clinical Director, said: “The greatest risk of transmission to school-age children is at home. International experience reveals that the reopening of schools has not been associated with a significant increase in community spread.

“Instead, it is the transmission of the virus within communities that poses the greatest threat to schools.

“Once again, we urge all households to think about their social plans. Stay within the meeting limits of six indoors and 15 outdoors and apply physical distancing in all settings.”

He said our experience to date with reopening schools is “hopeful” and in line with that of other ECDC countries. Cases have been identified in 54 schools, but no outbreaks have been reported.

Cases reported today include 51 in Dublin, six in Offaly, five in Kildare, and the remaining 22 cases are in Cork, Donegal, Galway, Mayo, Meath, Roscommon, Tipperary, Westmeath and Wicklow.

32 are men, 52 are women and 66% are under 45 years of age.

Almost a third (30%) are confirmed to be associated with outbreaks or are close contacts of a confirmed case, while eight are community-transmitted.

Health Minister Stephen Donnelly said that the increase in Covid-19 cases here is concerning, but that it is being replicated across the EU.

He told Dáil that there are 50 people with the virus being treated in the hospital and six of them in intensive care units.

Donnelly said that the country will face this virus for some time because the virus “does not tire.”

In Northern Ireland, the latest figures show that 49 new coronavirus cases have brought the total confirmed cases to 7,957. No more deaths were reported and the death toll remains 557.

Earlier today, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said the government’s new Covid-19 roadmap will seek to reopen international travel and align Ireland’s Green List with a European list of safe countries to travel.

Varadkar said that if we take the idea of ​​living with the virus seriously, it means more travel and while international travel started the spread of the coronavirus in Ireland, it is no longer the main cause of Covid-19.

Rapid tests at airports are being considered, as well as a decision to participate in an EU initiative that establishes a European-scale map with updated green, amber and red areas representing safe places to travel across the continent.

State Minister Hildegarde Naughton told Dáil that the government’s travel plan will be discussed in Cabinet next Tuesday and published “shortly thereafter.”

This follows a protest by Irish travel agents outside the Dáil today, who said they want the government to “save them from extinction” because their industry is on the brink of collapse.

Meanwhile, the executive director of the Dublin airport operator, daa, warned today that the company has lost almost 150 million euros so far this year as a result of the collapse in the aviation sector due to Covid-19.

Dalton Philips said there is a very strong case for the introduction of pre-departure Covid tests and serial checks on passengers arriving here.

The number of patients in hospitals confirmed with Covid-19 remains stable.

There are 50 confirmed cases in hospitals, of which six are in intensive care units, according to the latest nightly figures from the HSE.

There are also 76 suspected cases in hospitals, eight of them in intensive care.

There was disappointing news today when it emerged that trials of a Covid-19 vaccine in development by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford have been suspended due to a reported side effect in a patient in the UK.



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