THERE HAVE BEEN no further deaths reported from Covid-19 in Ireland today, the Department of Health confirmed this evening.
In a statement, it said that a further 20 cases of coronavirus have also been confirmed here, bringing the total number of cases to 25,845, and 1,763 deaths associated with the disease.
Dr Ronan Glynn, Acting Chief Medical Officer, said: “Covid-19 is a highly infectious disease that is still circulating in our communities. It is a dangerous illness that no-one wants to catch.
“While we have reason to be positive, we now need to continue to work together towards our collective goal of resuming healthcare services, reopening our children’s schools, and protecting the most vulnerable.
“The past weeks have shown that when we maintain physical distance, wash our hands, wear a face cover where appropriate and cover our coughs and sneezes, together we can interrupt the spread of Covid-19. Let’s keep going.”
Earlier today, Health Minister Stephen Donnelly said Ireland’s R number had decreased, falling to between 0.7 and 1.4 with the “best estimate” standing at 1.1
The R number is the rate at which the disease spreads from an infected person to other people – so if the R-number is at 1, an infected person will spread it to an average of one other person.
Donnelly told the Dáíl today that the “first focus” is making sure nursing homes are protected against any further waves of the disease.
“The public health officials are saying based on how they are seeing this disease work around the world, they are saying we are going to have a second surge,” the minister said.
“We are hoping it will be low, we are hoping it might be localised geographically, but we have to be prepared within particular communities, particular counties, particular cities for the prevalence rate to go up.”
Speaking at last night’s press briefing at the Department of Health, Dr Glynn said that it is likely that schools will reopen in September but that it is still too soon to make a decision regarding pubs reopening on 10 August.
“Pubs are one of the most high-risk environments. There’s no getting away from that,” he said. “We need to look at where the disease is at in two weeks time.”
Education Minister Norma Foley has said the plan to reopen schools required engagement with those working in the sector and time to address the various challenges involved. She will announce the plan on Monday.
Foley said the objective is a full reopening of schools with all students and teachers back on campus, aside from exceptional cases where there are people in high-risk categories, who she said would be catered for.
She also said there will be a “comprehensive financial package” in place and provision for additional teachers, where required.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin described the plan as “very detailed” and “comprehensive” but said he did not want to give specifics until the full plan is unveiled next week.
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