A further 393 cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed today by the Department of Health.
They said there are 14 people in ICU with Covid-19 and a further 48 people in hospital with the virus.
As usual, they said daily case numbers may change due to future data review, validation and update.
As of midnight, Friday 18 June, we are reporting 393* confirmed cases of #COVID19.
14 in ICU. 48 in hospital.
*Daily case numbers may change due to future data review, validation and update.— Department of Health (@roinnslainte) June 19, 2021
It comes as later this evening Tánaiste Leo Varadkar will tell the Fine Gael ard fheis that the €4 billion in additional spending given to the health service to fight the Covid-19 pandemic “should be retained” permanently.
The Irish Examiner has confirmed that, in his keynote address, Mr Varadkar will state that the increased manpower, resources, and now €22 billion-a-year budget provided to the health service to respond to the crisis should not be cut back as is due to happen to other Covid spending.
“I believe the additional staff, resources, and billions in extra funding that we have provided to the health service to respond to the emergency should be retained and redeployed,” he will say.
Fianna Fáil’s Michael McGrath, the public expenditure and reform minister, has made clear that at least €8bn in Covid-related spending needs to be eliminated this year as part of his plan to rebalance the budget within the lifetime of the Government.
