There have been three Covid-19 related deaths and 1,012 new cases of the disease reported to the Ministry of Health in the past 24 hours.
This brings the total number of cases across the country to 41,714 while the death toll stands at 1,824.
Health Minister Stephen Donnelly has warned that the coming months may be “the most challenging in living memory” for Ireland’s health sector.
Things you can do to protect yourself from infection with the Coronavirus include the following:
- Wash your hands properly and regularly
- Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when coughing and sneezing
- Follow the travel advisory from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs when traveling to China
- No need to use a face mask.
- wash your hands
Wash your hands properly and regularly with soap and water or an alcohol-based hand sanitizer:
- After coughing or sneezing
- After using the toilet
- before eating
- Before and after preparing food
- If you have been in contact with someone who is sick, especially those with respiratory symptoms
- If your hands are dirty
- If you have handled animal or animal waste
Cover your mouth when coughing and sneezing. If you have to sneeze or cough:
- Cover your nose and mouth with a disposable tissue
- If you don’t have a tissue, cough or sneeze into your arm or sleeve (not your hand)
- Put used tissue in a closed box
- wash your hands
In a speech at the Irish Hospital Advisors Association’s annual conference, which is taking place around this year, he added that it is now critical that the health system be stabilized.
He told delegates that Covid-19 had created “previously unimaginable changes that were required to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
This comes after Taneste Liu Varadkar assured the public that the government will not take any other closure decisions easily, saying that the closure of the fourth level out of five will not come unless “absolutely necessary.”
Speaking with Bobby Kerr at Newstalk’s Down to Business, Varadkar said he is concerned about the impact of the lockdown on the people of Ireland.
He said, “One of the tough decisions I made while I was in Taoiseach back in March was the lockdown of the country resulting in hundreds of thousands of people losing their jobs and going into epidemic unemployment payments – which we set up in order to give them some income support.
“Sadly for me to think that just last week or so, we had to shut down the hospitality.
“After 60,000 people returned to epidemic unemployment payments, they were laid off for the second time in a year, and no government wants to make these decisions and we do not treat them lightly.
“We certainly will not move to Level 4 or Level 5 unless we think it is necessary.”
Chief Medical Officer Dr. Tony Holuhan said he was “extremely concerned” about the increase in new cases.
He said, “I am very concerned about the numbers we are seeing and how quickly they are deteriorating.
