The Health Protection Surveillance Centre has today been informed that two people with Covid-19 in Ireland have died while there have been 54 confirmed additional cases, including some in Clare.
Before today’s announcement, 439 persons have tested positive for the virus in the county.
Officials have been notified of the 54 cases in the past 24 hours and the break-down of these new cases is -Dublin (19), Kildare (8) and Tipperary (5) with the remaining 22 in Clare, Carlow, Donegal, Kerry, Kilkenny, Laois, Limerick, Longford, Louth, Meath, Offaly, Waterford and Wexford.
There has now been a total of 1,775 Covid-19 related deaths in Ireland while the total number of confirmed cases has risen to 27,547.
Of the cases notified today 24 are men / 29 are women, 67% are under 45 years of age, 27 are confirmed to be associated with outbreaks or are close contacts of a confirmed case and eight cases have been identified as community transmission
Acting Chief Medical Officer, Dr Ronan Glynn stated, “To save lives and suppress this virus we need everyone to reduce the number of people they meet over the next three weeks. A collective effort by households and by employers and organisations can make a huge impact on community transmission, and help to protect our families and communities from Covid-19.
“You can still play sport, go to a restaurant and meet friends, but we are asking you to do this in as safe a way as possible. Specifically focus on two numbers – 6 and 15. Do not have more than 6 people over to your house and garden, and outside, no more than 15 people should meet up, and even then you should remain socially distanced from one another”.
A native of Ennis, Colin McGann has been editor of The Clare Champion since August 2020. Former editor of The Clare People, he is a journalism and communications graduate of Dublin Institute of Technology.