A FURTHER 430 new cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed in Ireland.

In a statement this evening, the Department of Health also said that a further 14 people have died from the coronavirus.

An additional 297 confirmed cases of Covid-19 have also been reported by a laboratory in Germany.

It brings the death toll to 334 and the number of confirmed cases to 9,655.

The data from the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC), as of midnight on Friday 10 April (when there were 8,496 confirmed cases) shows that 45% of confirmed cases are male and 54% are female.

It also shows that there are 383 clusters of the virus involving 1,653 cases. The median age of confirmed cases is 48 years of age.

1,777 of those who have been confirmed to have the virus have been hospitalised. 261 of those patients have been admitted to intensive care.

Meanwhile, the data shows that 2,312 cases have been associated with healthcare workers.

Dublin has the highest number of cases at 4,514 (53% of all cases) followed by Cork with 648 cases (8%).

Of those for whom transmission status is known: community transmission accounts for 66%; close contact accounts for 26%; and travel abroad accounts for 7%.

On Friday, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said that the restrictions on people’s movement throughout the State would remain in place until 5 May as efforts continue to prevent further spread of the virus.

New powers granted to the gardaí to enforce these restrictions also remain in place until early next month.

Earlier today, the chair of the NPHET’s Irish Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group , Professor Philip Nolan, told RTÉ Radio One’s This Week programme that the lifting of restrictions would have to be examined carefully to prevent a dangerous peak of new cases.

Nolan also said there was a “real danger” of a second wave of coronavirus cases if the correct actions were not taken when a decision was made to lift restrictions.

With reporting from Sean Murray.