The Chief Medical Officer has once again called on people to interrupt the transmission of Covid-19.
Dr. Tony Holohan says the profile of the disease is continuing to deteriorate and that individual action is needed to suppress the virus.
Yesterday saw a further 5 deaths and 617 new cases.
It's the third time this week the number of daily cases has passed the 600 mark.
It also emerged last night that the figures announced on Thursday included 10 new cases for Waterford.
It is vital that we interrupt the transmission of the virus now.
NPHET continues to monitor the situation however it is early, individual action that is needed to suppress #COVID19
Please follow public health advice and do your part to make an impact on the disease.— Dr Tony Holohan (@CMOIreland) October 9, 2020
All counties are under Level 3 restrictions until midnight on October 27th.
Cork GP Dr Nuala O'Connor says Level 3 will work if people reduce their contacts:
"If every person in this country reduces the number of people that they meet by one, that's five million fewer chances for the virus to spread.
"In the next two weeks, we have an opportunity, we know that it worked in Laois and Offaly. In Dublin, the cases are continuing to rise, but they're rising at a much slower rate."
Meanwhile, an expert says it's a 'national embarrassment' that the testing and tracing system is so overwhelmed.
DCU Professor Anthony Staines believes fast screening tests for Covid are needed which can be used on a much larger scale.
He says more staff are also needed to carry out testing in this country:
"There has been no increase in the core testing and tracing staff in the public health department since January of this year, which is in itself shocking.
"They built testing and tracing infrastructure from scratch in March which was very carefully dismantled in July, which is absolute insanity."
