The deaths of a further 12 people with Covid-19 has been reported by the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet). This brings to 2,006 the total number of deaths linked to the disease in the Republic.

Nphet also reported a further 379 confirmed cases of the disease, bringing to 69,058 the total number of cases in the Republic.

Of the new cases, 116 are in Dublin, 38 in Donegal, 30 in Meath, 27 in Cork, 22 in Limerick, 22 in Louth, with the remaining 124 cases spread across all other counties.

Hospital Report

Dr Tony Holohan, chief medical officer at the Department of Health, said: “Today we sadly report over 2,000 deaths associated with COVID-19 to date in this country. This pandemic has impacted, directly and indirectly, on families and communities all across Ireland.

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“It is important that we continue to work together if we are to suppress this virus and protect as many people as possible. For the next two weeks, work from home, stay at home and follow public health advice.”

With 5,708 cases in the last fortnight, Ireland’s 14-day incidence is now 119.9 cases per 100,000 people.

Donegal has the highest incidence, at 295.9, followed by Limerick, at 237.

Wexford, with an incidence of 46.1, has the lowest infection rate.

As of 2pm on Wednesday, 282 Covid-19 patients were hospitalised, of which 33 were in ICU. There were 22 additional hospitalisations in the past 24 hours, the department said.

In Northern Ireland, 11 more coronavirus-related deaths were recorded by the North’s department of health on Wednesday afternoon taking the death toll in Northern Ireland to 889.

The department also reported 518 new cases of Covid-19, bringing the total to 48,229.

Other figures show major outbreaks of Covid-19 in a number of hospitals have forced hundreds of staff off work.

At University Hospital Limerick, 221 staff are out of work due to infection or being a close contact, up from 161 last week.

The outbreak has forced the closure of a number of wards and the cancellation of all elective and outpatient procedures at UHL and Ennis hospitals over the past week.

At Letterkenny University Hospital, 133 staff were off work last Friday, 49 of them with Covid-19, according to information provided to local Sinn Féin TD Padraig MacLochlainn. Since March, 120 staff at the hospital have been infected with the virus.

Letterkenny has the highest number of virus patients of any hospital, at 40 on Tuesday evening. The hospital had two free general beds and one free critical care bed.

UHL had 35 Covid-19 patients, including six in critical care.

Donegal has the highest incidence of the disease in the Republic, followed by Limerick.

The number of virus outbreaks nearly doubled compared to the previous week, latest figures from the Health Protection Surveillance Centre show.

There were 1,057 clusters of the disease last week, up from 572 the week before.

The number of outbreaks in private houses more than doubled, up to 954 from 443.

There were 20 workplace outbreaks, down from 15, but the number of school outbreaks declined from 24 to 10.

Among the workplace outbreaks, 89 were in food and beverage facilities, while 55 were in meat or fish processing plants.