Coronavirus: Three further deaths and eight new cases in Republic

Kerry, Donegal and Sligo record no new Covid-19 cases in four weeks

A total of three new coronavirus-related deaths were reported by the National Public Health Emergency Team on Wednesday.

NPHET also reported another eight cases of the virus in the Republic.

The Health Protection Surveillance Centre denotified two deaths and one confirmed case on Wednesday bringing the total number of Covid-19 related deaths in the Republic to 1,710 and cases to 25,341.

The reproduction number for the virus remains at 0.7, the Minister for Health earlier told the Dáil, with no sign of an increase in spread.

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A reproduction rate of 0.7 means if 10 people become infected with Covid-19, they are likely to pass the virus on to seven other people between them. A reproduction rate less than 1 means the outbreak is being extinguished.

NPHET is due to meet on Thursday to decide the next steps on the re-phasing of the Government’s road-map for easing restrictions. Its recommendations will then be considered by ministers, who will decide whether the planned re-opening of services should be further accelerated.

Data released earlier on Wednesday showed three counties had recorded no new Covid-19 cases over the past four weeks.

Counties Kerry, Donegal and Sligo remained free of the virus from May 17th to June 14th according to the most recently available data.

Another two counties, Clare and Westmeath, have recorded no new cases of the disease so far this month.

Kerry’s disease-free status has prompted local Independent TD Michael Healy-Rae to call for special exemptions from coronavirus restrictions for his county.

Kerry should be fully open for visitors if it was safe and prudent to do so, Mr Healy-Rae told RTÉ radio on Wednesday.

However, public health officials have repeatedly ruled out any regionalised approach to restrictions, or the lifting of restrictions, up to now.

With the number of new cases confirmed each day nationally declining to under 20, it is highly unlikely they would see the need for such an approach at this stage.

Meanwhile, more than 100 new outbreaks of Covid-19 were reported last week, most of them in families and dating back several months.

Some 103 outbreaks were reported on the computerised infectious disease reporting system (CIDR) used by the Health Service Executive; 92 of these were family outbreaks.

Of these, 39 family outbreaks occurred in March, 36 in April and eight in May, according to the latest epidemiological report from the HSE’s Health Protection Surveillance Centre.

There have now been 266 clusters of the disease in private houses, up from 240 four days ago.

The number of ICU patients with confirmed Covid-19 has fallen to 20, down from a peak of 160 at the height of the pandemic.

Another 11 patients were in ICU with suspected Covid-19and awaiting test results, the latest HSE figures show.

There were 62 patients in hospitals overnight with confirmed Covid-19, down from 71 the previous day.

The hospital system now has 103 vacant intensive care beds and 449 vacant general beds as the demand for non-Covid care rises.

Paul Cullen

Paul Cullen

Paul Cullen is Health Editor of The Irish Times