Residents of five counties warned by CMO to 'take extra care'
Public health experts have expressed concern about “significant and substantial” numbers of Covid-19 cases in several counties amid fears last night of an outbreak in a north Dublin town.
Following the lifting of lockdown restrictions in Kildare, the acting chief medical officer Dr Ronan Glynn paid tribute to residents of the county for helping to stabilise the figures, but said the situation in Dublin, Limerick, Carlow, Wexford, and Tipperary is now being watched closely.
“That’s not to say we are contemplating anything in those counties, but it is a message to people in those counties to take extra care and to follow the guidance,” he said.
His warning came as a suspected outbreak of Covid-19 in Skerries has led to the local GAA club and soccer club suspending all activity.
It is unclear whether the decision to suspend all adult female activity in the Skerries Harps club, and at Skerries Town FC, was taken before or after the publication of a video on the social media platform TikTok which features seven young women laughing and joking about having to get a test for the virus. At least three of the women are members of the GAA club.
The video shows the friends individually declaring who among them is going to test positive for the virus as they all have been tested. One alleges that another has already tested positive.
On Sunday, Skerries Harps suspended all activity for its adult female football and camogie teams, and issued a statement.
When contacted, club chairman, Paul Donnolly, said he had no comment to make on the issue.
The club was due to play a senior county camogie semi-final against Dalkey-based Cuala next weekend, but that fixture has now been thrown into doubt.
As spokesman for the soccer club said they have suspended all activity as a precaution.
Meanwhile, a further 53 confirmed cases of Covid-19 were reported to the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) yesterday. No new deaths were reported.
Of the latest cases, 75% were under the age of 45, 25 are in Dublin and 11 in Limerick, while the rest are in Kildare, Longford, Clare, Cork, Kerry, Laois, Meath, Roscommon, Tipperary, and Westmeath.
Dr Glynn also rejected suggestions that the street-party scenes from Killarney over the weekend could have been avoided if wet-pubs were open.
"The vast, vast majority of people are doing the right thing,” he said.
