Coronavirus: More than 9,000 people have recovered, 44 more deaths reported

More than 9,000 people in the State who tested positive for Covid-19 have successfully recovered from the disease, the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) has revealed.

The deaths of another 44 patients – 18 males and 26 females – diagnosed with Covid-19 have been reported on Tuesday by NPHET.

Some 37 people who died were in the east, two in the northwest, three in the south and two in the west. A total of 33 of the patients were reported as having underlying health conditions. The median age of today’s deaths is 87.

There have now been 730 Covid-19-related deaths confirmed by laboratory tests in the Republic. However, a further 108 probable or suspected deaths in care settings was reported by NPHET on Tuesday.

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NPHET also reported 388 new confirmed cases. The total number of confirmed cases now stands at 16,040. As of last Monday 111,584 tests have been carried out for the virus, including 20,822 in the past week.

Of the deaths that have occurred so far, half (363) occurred in hospital and 47 of these patients were admitted to ICU. Some 82 per cent had underlying conditions and men accounted for 64 per cent of deaths.

The number of patients in intensive care dropped again, to 143, and 127 patients who were admitted to ICU have now been discharged.

A total of 8,377 patients have recovered from Covid-19 in the community, and another 856 patients have recovered after being treated in hospital, according to NPHET. This is the first time this figure has been provided.

Encouraging

Chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan described the recovery figures as encouraging but not surprising and in line with "the international picture".

There are currently 816 patients in hospital with Covid-19, while 295 patients have died with the disease in hospital but not in ICU, where 47 deaths have occurred.

There are 287 clusters of Covid-19 in residential settings, including 176 in nursing homes, Dr Holohan told the daily NPHET briefing on Tuesday.

There have been 502 Covid-related deaths in long-term residential facilities, of which 394 are laboratory confirmed; the rest – 108 – are classified as probable or suspected.

Current laboratory capacity can handle between 9,000 and 10,000 tests daily but is not being used fully

In nursing homes alone, there have been 427 deaths; 330 of these are laboratory confirmed and 97 are classified as probable or suspected.

Dr Holohan described the Government’s decision to ban gatherings of over 5,000 people up to September as appropriate and consistent with the advice provided by NPHET.

“Events of that scale simply shouldn’t be taking place,” he said.

‘Last hurdle’

Dr Holohan said the achievement of society in halting the spread of the disease had been extremely impressive “but we don’t want to falter at the last hurdle”.

The turnaround time for testing from sampling to the laboratory now stands at 24-36 hours, according to Dr Cillian de Gascun, director of the National Virus Reference Laboratory.

Current laboratory capacity can handle between 9,000 and 10,000 tests daily but is not being used fully. Referrals for testing are running at between 1,300 and 1,500 a day. He said it was possible “a small number” of older tests were still outstanding after several weeks.

Dr Holohan said it was “not ideal” if any patient was waiting for a test result after several weeks, but this did not prevent the person involved from following the clear public health advice to self-isolate.

Meanwhile, it was announced on Tuesday that nine more people with coronavirus have died in hospital in Northern Ireland, bringing the total number of fatalities there to 216.