Public compliance with guidelines urged in Donegal and Dublin as 326 new cases confirmed

Dr Glynn urged people in Donegal and Dublin to observe public health guidelines. Picture: Sam Boal/Rollingnews.ie

There have been no new deaths from Covid-19 reported to the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) today. 

However, there were 326 new cases of the coronavirus confirmed bringing the total number of cases in Ireland to 34,315 since the outbreak began. 

The Department of Health said the Health Service Executive is working to identify any contacts the patients may have had to prevent further spread of the virus.

The death toll from the disease remains the same at 1,797 Covid-related deaths. 

A further breakdown of the Covid-19 case data released from the HPSC this evening shows: 

• 162 cases are men and 152 are women 
• 69% of cases have been identified in patients under 45 years of age 
• 33% of cases are confirmed to be associated with outbreaks or are close contacts of a confirmed case 
• 49 cases have been identified as community transmission 

The majority of new cases are found in Dublin with 152 confirmed this evening. 

32 case are in Cork, 22 are in Donegal, 21 in Galway, 15 in Meath, 11 in Kildare, nine in Kerry, eight in Louth, eight in Westmeath, six in Limerick, six in Mayo, six in Tipperary and five in Wexford. 

The remaining 25 cases are in eight other counties.

Speaking this evening about the latest case numbers, Acting Chief Medical Officer Dr Ronan Glynn urged the public in Donegal and Dublin to observe public health guidelines. 

“Today I am asking people everywhere but particularly in Donegal and Dublin to pay special attention to the public health advice.

I ask every individual to take personal responsibility to prioritise who you need to see, limit the size of your social network and reduce your social contacts over the coming days and weeks.

“Because while there is every chance that other areas will have to move to level three, there is nothing inevitable about it. We have seen previously how people working together can turn the tide on this virus and bring increasing trajectories back under control.

“Know how valuable your individual actions are. Your choices and your actions are part of how we will succeed.”

Earlier today Taoiseach Micheál Martin warned that Cork city is now a “danger area” for coronavirus as cases have increased rapidly in the past two weeks. 

Infection rates have been rising in urban areas, and public health officials are “very concerned” that the cities of Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford will have to go into lockdown as universities and institutes of technology reopen, Micheál Martin said.

Minister for Higher Education also confirmed this afternoon that universities and higher-level education institutions across the country have been asked to move lectures online for the next two weeks in response to rising Covid-19 case numbers.