Warning of 'days with significant numbers of cases' over next week

Dr Ronan Glynn. File picture: Gareth Chaney/Collins

The National Public Health Emergency Team is warning of "significant" numbers of Covid-19 cases being reported over the next week.

57 more coronavirus cases were confirmed last night, but there were no further deaths.

Ireland's incidence of cases per 100,000 people over the past two weeks is now higher than in the UK.

There are now 26,768 confirmed cases in Ireland, while the death toll stands at 1,772.

The Cabinet sub-committee on Covid-19 will meet later to discuss the recent spike in cases and outbreaks at meat processing plants.

31 of last night's reported cases are associated with outbreaks or close contacts of confirmed cases, while another eight are linked to community transmission.

Acting Chief Medical Officer Dr Ronan Glynn says there are going to be ups and downs over the next seven days.


“I sincerely hope that we’re sitting here in a week’s time with a handful of cases, and people are complaining that we moved too quickly and we took disproportionate measures,” he said.

“But we just have to wait and see.”

“I believe that we’ll have days with significant numbers of cases and days with fewer cases over the next week.” 

It comes as the global number of Covid-19 cases has reached 20 million, according to the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Centre.

The grim milestone was reached in the early hours of Tuesday morning, Irish time, with 20,011,186 cases worldwide.

The total number of global coronavirus deaths stands at 734,664, according to experts at Johns Hopkins, the American university whose aggregated tally has become the main reference for monitoring the disease.

Health officials believe the real figure of cases worldwide is in fact far higher than the Johns Hopkins tally, due to testing limitations and the fact as many as 40% of people infected have no symptoms.