Almost 400 cases of Coronavirus reported today

There were almost 400 confirmed cases of Covid-19 reported to the authorities today.

In response the acting chief medical officer advising the public to "Plan to see half the number of people this week that you saw last week."

Amongst the few positive aspects of today's news were that there were no new deaths reported to the Health Protection Surveillance Centre today, and none of the 396 new confirmed cases were located in County Cavan; however there were nine in County Monaghan.

Again, the majority were located in the capital which is now under level 3 guidelines, while the rest of the country remains under level 2. Of the 396 cases, 241 were in Dublin, 36 in Cork, 19 in Donegal, 12 in Galway, 11 in Meath, 11 in Kildare, 9 in Monaghan, 7 in Louth, 6 in Clare, 6 in Offaly, 6 in Waterford and 5 in Wicklow, with the remaining 27 cases spread across 11 counties.

Of the cases notified today 172 are men / 224 are women; 70% are under 45 years of age; 26% are confirmed to be associated with outbreaks or are close contacts of a confirmed case; 58 cases have been identified as community transmission.

Dr. Ronan Glynn, Acting Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health, said: “The cases we are reporting today were seeded in the last week.

“This virus spreads from person to person. We now have a collective task across the country to break the chains of transmission and stop this virus from spreading further.

“Plan to see half the number of people this week that you saw last week. When you do meet, do so safely – keep your distance, wear a face covering if appropriate and wash your hands.

“Every individual action we take to interrupt the transmission of this disease keeps ourselves and our families safe.”