HEALTH OFFICIALS HAVE confirmed a further 45 cases of Covid-19 in this country, with no new deaths reported.

The National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) said in a statement this evening that there have now been a total of 26,109 confirmed cases in this country and 1,763 Covid-19 related deaths.

Of the 45 new cases, nine cases are located in Limerick, eight in Kildare, seven in Mayo, six in Cavan, four in Dublin with the remainder spread across five other counties. 

Of the new cases, 18 are associated with outbreaks or close contacts of a confirmed case and 12 cases have been identified as community transmission.

In terms of age, 77% of the new cases are in people under 45 years of age with 50% aged between 25- 44 years. 

Today’s case numbers come on the back of 38 cases being confirmed yesterday and 85 on Thursday, a spike that Nphet had said was “very concerning”.

In a statement this evening, acting chief Medical Officer Dr Ronan Glynn said that the current trend is “clearly concerning”.

“Over the last five days we have seen an average of 44 cases a day. This trend is clearly concerning and now is the time to ensure you and your families are making every effort to keep each other safe,” he said.

Ensure gatherings are kept to a minimum and invite no more than 10 others into your home.

Speaking on Thursday, Glynn had asked people to be conscious of the presence of the virus over this bank holiday weekend.

“We do know what works and we do know what can make sure that we don’t have higher cases in a week’s time. That’s what every individual does this weekend and going into bank holiday weekend and pleading with people to to act in the context of a global pandemic,” he said.