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The medical director warned that Covid-19 growth rates are increasing rapidly across the country.
Dr. Tony Holohan was responding to the latest figures showing two Covid-19-related deaths and 814 new cases of the disease reported to the Health Department yesterday.
The cumulative number of cases here is now 42,528, while the death toll is 1,826.
Dr. Tony Holohan said that “22 out of 26 counties have seven-day incidence rates as a percentage of 14-day incidence rates above 50%. This shows rapidly increasing growth rates across the country.”
He urged people to keep their social contacts to an absolute minimum and maintain a physical distance from others.
Health Minister Stephen Donnelly said the number of new cases was “disappointing” but added that they still do not reflect “the impact of the changes in our behavior since the whole country went to Level 3.”
He said it was “encouraging” that the latest figures suggested streaming is slowing down in Dublin. “The R (reproductive) number in Dublin is now estimated at 1. This is also encouraging.”
Minister Donnelly added: “Our numbers are still too high across the country, but we can still suppress this virus. Let’s keep working together to achieve it. Individual actions are key and we can all make a difference.”
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He denied there were plans for a longer midterm recess for schools and also said that a “circuit breaker” lockout was not being considered at this time.
Over the last week, 4,510 new Covid cases were confirmed in Ireland, with all counties represented.
It is almost 1,500 more than the previous week, and compares with just over 1,300 cases four weeks ago. Over the past week, 17 more people have also been reported dead with the virus.
Meanwhile, 1,066 new cases of coronavirus were recorded in Northern Ireland yesterday. It is the second time it has registered more than 1,000 new cases in three days.
Based on the size of the population, that equates to more than 2,700 cases south of the border.
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