Another 43 people with Covid-19 in the Republic have lost their lives.
1,232 people have now died from the virus since the outbreak began.
359 new cases have been identified in the past 24 hours, with the total now standing at 20,612.
In Waterford, there are 137 confirmed cases of Covid-19, as of midnight on Tuesday. The number of cases in the city and county remains unchanged from last night's figure.
There have now been a total of 1,232 #COVID19 related deaths in Ireland. Validation of data at the HPSC has resulted in the denotification of 1 death. The figure of 1,232 deaths reflects this.
— Department of Health (@roinnslainte) April 30, 2020
Today’s data from the Health Protection Surveillance Centre, as of midnight, Tuesday 28th April (20,111 cases), reveals:
· 58% are female and 42% are male
· The median age of confirmed cases is 49 years
· 2,706 cases (13%) have been hospitalised
· Of those hospitalised, 360 cases have been admitted to ICU
· 5,684 cases are associated with healthcare workers
· Dublin has the highest number of cases at 9,967 (50% of all cases) followed by Kildare with 1,193 cases (6%) and then Cork with 1,146 cases (6%)
· Of those for whom transmission status is known: community transmission accounts for 63%, close contact accounts for 33%, travel abroad accounts for 3%
Dr. Tony Holohan, Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health, said: “The latest report of COVID-19 cases in healthcare workers reveals that 34% of cases relate to nurses, healthcare assistants amount to 24% and cases among doctors is at 7%.
“Since the pandemic began in Ireland 72 nurses, 40 healthcare assistants, 22 doctors and 45 other allied healthcare workers have been hospitalised with COVID-19.”
Dr. Ronan Glynn, Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health, said: “Healthcare workers place themselves at risk everyday during this pandemic. Supporting them and doing everything possible to protect them in their work is a priority not just for NPHET and the HSE, but society at large. The willingness of people to stay home and follow public health advice has been instrumental in this effort.”
Professor Philip Nolan, Chair of NPHET Irish Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group, said: “To understand the importance of our next steps we should look back to the pattern of the epidemic at the beginning of March. Within 10 days we went from 50 people in ICU to 140 people in ICU. Currently, there are 106 patients in ICU. If a similar surge occurred on top of our current ICU figure, we would find it very difficult to manage the treatment of patients. This reflects the sensitivity required in relaxing restrictions.”
