14 deaths as number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in Ireland hits 9,655

The Department of Health has announced that 14 more people diagnosed with Covid-19 have died, while there are more than 400 new cases of the disease.

The National Public Health Emergency Team stated that the people included six females and eight males.

12 deaths located in the east of Ireland, while there were two in the west of the country. 10 people were reported as having underlying health conditions

There have now been 334 Covid-19 related deaths in Ireland.

It was also announced that there are 430 new cases of the virus in Ireland.

An additional 297 confirmed cases of Covid-19 was reported by a laboratory in Germany.

With the latest German figures included, there are now a total of 9,655 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Ireland.

The HSE is working to identify any contacts the patients may have had to provide them with information and advice to prevent further spread.

The HPSC also announced new data as Friday April 10, when there was 8,496 cases. The data - including German results received to that date - revealed:

• 45% are male and 54% are female, with 383 clusters involving 1,653 cases
• the median age of confirmed cases is 48 years
• 1,777 cases (21%) have been hospitalised
• Of those hospitalised, 261 cases have been admitted to ICU
• 2,312 cases are associated with healthcare workers
• Dublin has the highest number of cases at 4,514 (53% of all cases) followed by Cork with 648 cases (8%)
• Of those for whom transmission status is known: community transmission accounts for 66%, close contact accounts for 26%, travel abroad accounts for 7%

'Darkest days'

Earlier today, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said that

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In a video message posted on Twitter, Mr Varadkar said that the country is preparing to reach its Covid-19 peak later this month.

“The number of hospitalisations and sadly the number of deaths continues to rise,” he said.

“So we cannot lose focus. We cannot lessen our efforts. In fact, we need to redouble them for the next few weeks.

“It’s more important than ever that we persevere. It’s possible that we haven’t seen the peak yet.

“When it comes, perhaps later this month, we will experience some of our darkest days. So we need to maintain our discipline and resolve in the knowledge that better days are to come.”

On Saturday, Minister for Health Simon Harris said he hoped the backlog in testing would be cleared by the end of next week.

He said between 25,000 and 30,000 tests had been sent to Germany, with more than half of the tests returned and the remainder due back this week.

On Friday, the Government extended its current restrictions for another three weeks, until May 5.

- additional reporting by Press Association.

The current restrictions started on Friday, March 27. They mandate that everyone should stay at home, only leaving to:
• Shop for essential food and household goods;
• Attend medical appointments, collect medicine or other health products;
• Care for children, older people or other vulnerable people - this excludes social family visits;
• Exercise outdoors - within 2kms of your home and only with members of your own household, keeping 2 metres distance between you and other people
• Travel to work if you provide an essential service - be sure to practice physical distancing