HEALTH OFFICIALS HAVE confirmed a further 43 people diagnosed with Covid-19 have died and there are 359 new cases of the disease in Ireland.

This brings the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 20,612. There have been 1,232 reported deaths associated with the coronavirus since the beginning of the outbreak in Ireland.

The National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) also published latest details about the 5,684 Covid-19 cases that relate to healthcare workers.

Approximately 1,933 cases relate to nurses, 1,364 cases relate to healthcare assistants and 398 cases relate to doctors. Since the pandemic began, 72 nurses, 40 healthcare assistants, 22 doctors and 45 other healthcare workers have been hospitalised.

However, Chief Medical Officer Tony Holohan said the number of deaths relating to healthcare workers has changed since last week, when it emerged that five people in the sector have lost their lives to date.

Earlier today Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said he plans to have the roadmap for lifting restrictions ready for approval by Cabinet tomorrow. He said there would be a number of phases, with two to four weeks between each phase. 

Although a plan on how to move forward with easing restrictions will be available tomorrow, this does not mean any restrictions will be relaxed after 5 May.

Dr Tony Holohan has said he does not anticipate the advice of NPHET will change tomorrow after they meet.