THE DEPARTMENT OF Health has this evening confirmed a further 10 deaths from Covid-19 along with 64 new cases of the virus in Ireland.

It brings the total number of deaths in Ireland to 1,543. The total number of confirmed cases in Ireland has now reached 24,112. 

Tomorrow, Phase One of the roadmap to ease the current Covid-19 restrictions in Ireland will commence. 

The number of new cases will be watched closely by public health officials to preempt a surge of new infections, with the possibility that further restrictions could be reimposed.

Today’s data from the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) shows that, of the 23,953 cases reported as of midnight on Friday 15 May:

• 57% are female and 43% are male
• The median age of confirmed cases is 48 years
• 3,117 cases (13%) have been hospitalised
• Of those hospitalised, 389 cases have been admitted to ICU
• 7,566 cases are associated with healthcare workers
• Dublin has the highest number of cases at 11,666 (49% of all cases) followed by Kildare with 1,361 cases (6%) and then Cork with 1,352 cases (6%)
• Of those for whom transmission status is known: community transmission accounts for 60%, close contact accounts for 37%, travel abroad accounts for 3%

Earlier this week, the HSE announced it aimed to have a 90% end-to-end turnaround time of three days on testing and contact tracing for Covid-19 positive cases by tomorrow. 

HSE CEO Reid also confirmed that more than 270,000 coronavirus tests have been carried out across Ireland and that, by Monday, 15,000 tests per day would be carried out. 

At this morning’s HSE weekly briefing, Reid also addressed the reporting of Covid-19 cases from the Mater Hospital in Dublin.

It follows controversy surrounding the delay of the official publication of some 244 cases at the hospital dating back to mid-March until Thursday.

He said he is satisfied that the reporting of Covid-19 cases from the hospital complied with legal requirements, despite an anomaly which emerged earlier this week.