Ireland hit by almost 2,000 Covid-19 cases at the weekend

Tony Holohan’s warning comes as more than 800 new cases of the virus were reported on Sunday, bringing the weekend total to almost 2,000 new cases. Picture: Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin

Consistently following public health advice and keeping social contacts to an absolute minimum is vital as Covid-19 continues to rapidly spread across the country, the chief medical officer has warned.

Tony Holohan’s warning comes as more than 800 new cases of the virus were reported on Sunday, bringing the weekend total to almost 2,000 new cases. 

More than half of these cases were notified to the Health Protection Surveillance Centre over a period of 24 hours. Two more deaths related to Covid-19 were also notified to the Department of Health on Sunday. The number of people hospitalised due to the virus has also increased further. 

“It is vital that the entire population consistently implement public health advice into their daily lives,” Dr Holohan said.

“Keep your social contacts to an absolute minimum and keep physical distance when you need to be out of your home.” A further 22 out of 26 counties have seven-day incidence rates as a percentage of 14-day incidence rates above 50%, he added. “This shows rapidly increasing growth rates across the country.”

Of the cases reported on Sunday, 226 were in Dublin, 77 in Cork, 64 in Galway, 56 in Donegal, and 48 in Meath. The remaining 343 cases are spread across all remaining counties.

Of the cases: 

• 432 were men and 381 were women;
• 70% are under 45 years of age;
• The median age is 32 years old.

As of 2pm on Sunday, 204 patients were hospitalised, with 16 of these hospitalisations happening within 24 hours. A further 30 of these patients were in intensive care units. 

Also on Sunday, Northern Ireland recorded 1,066 new cases of coronavirus in the previous 24 hours, and one further death. 

On Sunday, the Taoiseach firmly ruled out any extension to the mid-term break. It had been reported that children could be given a two-week break from school in tandem with further Covid-19 restrictions.

Micheál Martin said keeping schools open remains the priority for the Government. 

The reopening of schools has shown "what can be done with collective effort and compliance with safety guidance and sensible measures", he added. 

Taoiseach Micheál Martin, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar and Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly, TD. 

Meanwhile, a decision to allow people to visit family in other parts of the country for Christmas will only be made "a few weeks" out from the holiday, the health minister has said.

Stephen Donnelly hopes the country will be down to level one by the end of December, but he said Christmas restrictions will be highly dependent on the spread of the virus at the time.

Asked specifically if people will be allowed home to other parts of the country for Christmas, Mr Donnelly said: "Essentially, the question is when will we know what level the country is at on December 25 or in and around the Christmas period? And that's something that will be looked at very closely at the time."

"It really depends where the epidemiological situation is at the time and I would say, based on what we have looked at so far, we usually look a few weeks in advance, certainly around about now it would be impossible for anyone to be predicting what level the disease will be asked towards the end of December."