THE CHIEF MEDICAL Officer has confirmed a further six patients diagnosed with Covid-19 have died and there are 39 new cases of the disease in Ireland. 

Since the beginning of the outbreak, there have been 24,876 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the country and 1,645 people have died.  

Data from the HPSC, as of midnight on Wednesday, shows that 3,270 people have been hospitalised with Covid-19, and of those hospitalised 404 cases have been admitted to ICU. 

Speaking at this evening’s briefing at the Department of Health, Dr Tony Holohan said the declining number of admissions to hospitals and ICU was “encouraging”. He said the current recovery rate is 90%. 

“Moving into next week, I would urge everyone to look back at the progress we have made over the past number of weeks and maintain our efforts to suppress Covid-19 into the future.”

Ahead of the bank holiday weekend, Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr Ronan Glynn encouraged everyone to enjoy the expected warm weather within recommended guidelines.

“Public health advice currently recommends outdoor meetings of up to 4 people outside of your household, at a physical distance of 2 metres and within 5km of your home,” Glynn said at this evening’s briefing. 

The Department also reminded people to keep a note of who they meet while they are out, to make it easier to contract trace should they become infected. 

Earlier today, the Government announced that it intends to see primary and secondary schools open at the end of August provided the virus doesn’t make a comeback. 

The reopening of schools as planned will be contingent on how Covid-19 is spreading within the community at that point, Leo Varadkar said this afternoon.

He said that while all students may not be able to attend class every day, it will be “as close to normal as possible”. 

Holohan said this evening that he did not want to “jump the gun” in terms of issuing advice in relation to the reopening of schools.

“We’re looking at everything and are in touch with a number of Departments,” he said.

The Government has also decided not to seek an extension to its deal with private hospitals and instead a new deal will be negotiated. In March the government reached a €115 million per month agreement with private hospitals to use all of their facilities during the Covid-19 crisis.  

This deal runs until the end of June and today Cabinet agreed it should not be extended. A new deal will be negotiated to allow for full access to private hospital facilities in the case of a second wave of Covid-19.

The new agreement will also seek to use private hospitals for the treatment of non-Covid patients.