A total of 60 deaths and 3,231 new cases of Covid-19 have been reported this evening by the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET).
This brings to 2,595 the total number of deaths from Covid-19 and 169,780 the number of cases since the pandemic began.
Of the cases notified today, there are 155 in Waterford, 931 in Dublin, 388 in Cork, 238 in Louth, 151 in Limerick, and the remaining 1,368 cases are spread across all other counties.
Dr Tony Holohan, Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health said: “"This virus has taken root in every single part of the country. A significant percentage of the population - in excess of 1 in 10 in some counties - is currently either a case or a close contact. This is a huge burden of infection. When you consider that a significant percentage of our daily cases will directly lead to hospitalisation and mortality, the urgency with which we need to act becomes clear. By staying at home, you are protecting our health and social care services as they struggle against the enormous burden of infection that many weeks with thousands of daily cases of COVID-19 represents.”
“The improvements in cases is not happening fast enough. Too many people are still not complying as fully as we need with the advice. There are early indications that we may be levelling off in terms of improvement, but at far, far too high a level of infection. The UK variant is very likely making our challenge more difficult. Please follow the public health advice. The safest place at the moment is at home. Please stay at home.”
