A FURTHER 582 new cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed in Ireland, the National Public Health Emergency Team has said this evening.

In a statement, it said that a further six people with Covid-19 have died.

There have now been 2,149 deaths in Ireland linked with Covid-19, along with 78,254* cases of the virus. 

As of 2pm today, 198 Covid-19 patients are hospitalised, of which 34 are in ICU. There have been 13 additional hospitalisations in the past 24 hours.

Of the cases notified today:

• 310 are men, and 265 are women
• 60% are under 45 years of age
• The median age is 38 years old
• 193 in Dublin, 59 in Wexford, 47 in Louth, 42 in Meath, 34 in Cork and the remaining 207 cases are spread all other remaining counties.

Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan said: “Over the past week, we have expressed significant concern that the level of infection was deteriorating day on day.

“The data today adds further evidence that the situation is getting worse more rapidly than we expected.

The country simply cannot cope with this level of infection as we head into Christmas week. With vaccines offering hope in the coming months for our most vulnerable groups, we want to keep them alive and well so that they can receive it.

“Each one of us must do all we can to protect public health – cut your contacts, see only those you need to see. Choose to socialise safely, outdoors if possible. If you see a crowd, avoid it.

“By choosing to act safely right now, together we can limit the impact this disease will have in the weeks and months to come – and in doing so, we can protect the vulnerable and prevent unnecessary deaths.”

Yesterday, NPHET recommended that the Government should reimpose restrictions between Christmas and the New Year; Taoiseach Micheál Martin said today that he was “very minded” to accept this advice, but they would wait to see if cases continued to increase.

Tánaiste Leo Varadkar warned last night: “If we wait until 3 January or 6 January, then the restrictions that we reimpose might have to be tougher and might have to go on for longer – and we don’t want that.”

Health Minister Stephen Donnelly said on RTÉ’s Drivetime this evening:

“I know there are gastropubs in Dublin that are essentially ignoring the fact that Covid is here and I think what they’re doing is putting the rest of the sector at risk, and it’s very unfair. But the vast majority of the hospitality sector are doing the right thing.”

From today, people are allowed to travel between counties, and can have two households visit their home. 

*Validation of data at the HPSC led to the denotification of 6 cases.