Covid-19: Nine deaths and nine new cases confirmed

This brings the total deaths from Covid-19 in Ireland to 1,691.

There are now 25,215 cases of Coronavirus in Ireland in total.

One previous confirmed case of Covid-19 was denotified today by the HPSC reflected in the current total of cases.

One previous confirmed death from Covid-19 was also denotified reflected in the total number of deaths.

A breakdown of the data for Covid-19 patients provided by the HPSC shows:

• 57% are female and 43% are male
• The median age of confirmed cases is 48 years
• 3,331 cases (13%) have been hospitalised
• Of those hospitalised, 413 cases have been admitted to ICU
• 8,087 cases are associated with healthcare workers
• Dublin has the highest number of cases at 12,159 (48% of all cases) followed by Cork with 1,529 cases (6%) and then Kildare with 1,424 cases (6%)
• Of those for whom transmission status is known: community transmission accounts for 38%, close contact accounts for 59%, travel abroad accounts for 2%

35 cases of Covid-19 are being treated in intensive care units (ICU) and there is currently a total of 110 confirmed coronavirus cases in Ireland's hospitals.

Speaking about the new Covid-19 data, Dr Tony Holohan, Chief Medical Officer of the Department of Health, said; “While today we report nine new cases and the situation continues to improve in both Ireland and across Europe, the World Health Organisation has noted that now is not the time to ‘take the foot off the pedal’ and that countries need to continue to work hard to avoid complacency and promote solidarity.”

Meanwhile, Dr Cillian De Gascun, chair of the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) Expert Advisory Group, said there is currently no “specific evidence” that Covid-19 was “particularly associated” with people who travelled to and from Ireland to attend the Cheltenham racing festival or rugby matches.

He said: “At the moment we don’t have specific evidence that the virus would have been particular associated with those groups of individuals.

"We are an island nation with significant transport links to other European countries on a daily basis. I don’t think we have evidence to support the assertion that they would have been points of introduction for the virus.”

In March, there was criticism in Ireland at the festival organisers’ decision to allow Cheltenham go ahead.

Earlier today a professor of genetics warned that there is every possibility of a resurge in Covid-19 and that Ireland could be facing waves of infection and waves of lockdown.

Speaking on on RTÉ radio’s Today with Sarah McInerney show, Professor David McConnell of Trinity College, Dublin said: " “People think we're out of the woods, it's really quite dangerous. Today we are in the same position as we were on March 12.

"What happened on that date - we went into an epidemic. Everything is there for us to resurge to have an equally vigorous epidemic. We could have waves of infection, waves of lockdown.”