Ten more people in the State with coronavirus have died, the Health Protection Surveillance Centre has been informed, while there are 613 new confirmed cases of the virus.

Eight of the 10 deaths reported today were from prior to September 2020.

It brings to 1,810 the number of Covid-19 related deaths in the Republic of Ireland.

Hospital Report

The new cases means there there has been 37,668 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the Republic.

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Of the latest cases notified, 315 are men and 294 are women, 68 per cent are under 45 years of age, and 30 per cent are confirmed to be associated with outbreaks or are close contacts of a confirmed case.

Meanwhile, 58 cases have been identified as due to community transmission.

In a breakdown by county, there are 224 new cases in Dublin, 58 in Donegal, 46 in Cork, 44 in Kildare, 31 in Limerick, 28 in Laois, 21 in Kerry, 19 in Galway, 17 in Clare, 13 in Meath, 12 in Louth, and 12 in Monaghan.

The remainder are in Offaly, Tipperary, Wicklow, Cavan, Wexford, Carlow, Sligo, Roscommon, Mayo , Kilkenny and Westmeath, and with another seven cases in three counties.

Identify contacts

The HSE said it is working to identify any contacts the patients may have had to provide them with information and advice to prevent further spread.

Acting chief medical officer Dr Ronan Glynn said: "The numbers being reported today and over the past week represent a significant escalation in the profile of Covid-19 in Ireland.

“For those aged 70+ and those who are medically vulnerable to Covid-19, it is strongly recommended that you should limit the number of people you meet to a very small core group of family members, carers or friends, for short periods of time, while remaining physically distant.

“We need to work together once again to make a significant impact on the number of cases in the community, and ultimately to reduce the number of people getting sick, being admitted to hospital and critical care, while protecting non-Covid healthcare services. I urge people in every county to follow the public health advice to stop the further spread of COVID-19.”

Earlier, Prof Philip Nolan warned there could be 1,200 to 1,300 cases each day and 400 people in hospital by the end of this month based on current projections.

Prof Nolan, chair of the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) epidemiological modelling advisory group, said case numbers have been growing by an average of 4 per cent per day since hitting a daily low of nine cases on June 23rd.

Since then numbers have grown from 12 cases on July 1st, 40 cases on August 1st, 131 cases on September 1st and 470 cases on Friday.

This has been reflected in a rise of hospitalisations from 12 on August 3rd to 121 on October 1st.

Almost Covid-19 87,000 tests were carried out last week and the positivity rate was 3.2 per cent.

Prof Nolan suggested that restrictions put in place in Dublin and Donegal “may be starting” to work as the restrictions in Kildare, Laois and Offaly worked, but he added “the virus is spreading at a nearly constant rate throughout the rest of the country”.

Prof Nolan explained that the “epidemic, measured in detected cases and hospitalisations, has been growing exponentially, at the same rate, since July. We have, collectively, had too many social contacts. The virus is transmitting, and cases and hospitalisations growing”.

He alluded to the fact that deaths remain relatively low compared to the spring time by stressing that mortality with the virus “is not negligible and significantly greater than influenza. The only way to protect the vulnerable is to greatly reduce the level of circulating virus in the community”.

In his Twitter thread, he concluded: “We should not ignore or dismiss the rising numbers of SARS-CoV-2 infections. We monitor hospitalisations, intensive care admissions, and with great sadness, deaths, and we know where these numbers will go if we do not suppress transmission of the virus.

“This is not meant to scare people. It’s asking us to be honest with ourselves. And it’s not inevitable. On the contrary, if we redouble our efforts to minimise our social contacts, keep our distance when with others, and stay home if feeling unwell, we can beat this.”

‘Serious concern’

Taoiseach Micheál Martin warned that a second wave of the coronavirus pandemic is under way across Europe, as he expressed sympathies to US president Donald Trump and his wife Melania after the couple tested positive.

"May I say as a preface to this, to wish President Trump and his wife Melania the very best in terms of wishing them a speedy recovery," Mr Martin said on the sidelines of a summit of the 27 European Union leaders in Brussels.

“It’s difficult for them to have tested positive for Covid-19 and we wish them a speedy recovery. It reminds us all of the very present prevalence of this virus.”

Mr Trump's challenger Democratic candidate Joe Biden announced on Friday evening that he and his wife Dr Jill Biden had tested negative. Mr Trump and Mr Biden held a socially-distanced debate on Tuesday.

The 27 EU leaders met to discuss the severe economic impact of the pandemic among other issues, in a summit that had been delayed by a week because its chair European Council president Charles Michel was forced to go into quarantine after exposure to the virus.

Mr Martin said the leaders had agreed to work on increased co-ordination in procuring and distributing vaccines currently under development, and on a system of classifying risk in different countries that would bring travel rules across the EU into line.

“Today in the European Council it’s very, very clear that a second wave is on the way across Europe,” Mr Martin warned, describing a “very similar pattern, younger people being infected first, then a higher incidence among the broader population”.

“There’s a lot of concern about the health and economic impact of Covid-19 and also the duration this will continue,” he added.

“The story in Ireland is not unique, it’s quite similar to the pattern across Europe. It calls for increased coordination on a number of fronts.”

Almost 1,000 people in Northern Ireland tested positive for coronavirus on Friday in what is the largest daily increase since the pandemic began.