'The virus is still in our community'' - Holohan

Published: Tue 5 May 2020, 7:47 PM

Last updated: Tue 5 May 2020, 8:57 PM

The deaths of another 23 people with COVID-19 have been reported today. That brings the revised figure to 1,339* COVID-19 related deaths in the Republic. In the North there were 17 more deaths reported bringing the total to 404.

In the Republic, as of 11am today, (May 5), the HPSC has been notified of 211 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 bringing the total to 21,983 confirmed cases.

Analysis of data from the HPSC relate to total cases as of midnight, Sunday 3 May (21,659 cases), and reveals that in Cavan the number of confirmed cases has risen to 694, up 12 from the previous day; while in Co Monaghan the confirmed cases stands at 429, up six on the previous day.

Looking nationally, of those 21,659 cases, 58% are female and 42% are male; the median age of confirmed cases is 49 years; 2,879 cases (13%) have been hospitalised; of those hospitalised, 369 cases have been admitted to ICU; 6,293 cases are associated with healthcare workers and Dublin accounts for 49% of all cases, followed by Kildare with 1,280 cases (6%).

The volume of testing has increased in recent weeks. As of midnight Monday 4 May, 214,761 tests have been carried out. Over the past week, 61,707 tests were carried out and of these 2,280 were positive, giving a positivity rate of 3.7%.

Dr. Cillian De Gascun, Chair of the NPHET Expert Advisory Group, said: “The positivity rate reducing is a good sign. Combined with the high level of testing we are now undertaking, this gives us confidence that we are on a path towards suppression of the disease.”

Crucial

Dr. Tony Holohan, Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health, said: “As Ireland works to ease restrictions, it is crucial that we preserve the progress our country has made in recent weeks.
“This is a highly infectious disease. It thrives in crowds. It has the potential to rapidly spread to levels that our health service will find difficult to respond to.
“While we plan how to safely emerge from recent restrictions, none of us should forget that the virus is still in our community. Those who get infected have the same risk of serious illness as they did at the beginning of this pandemic.”