A FURTHER TWO patients diagnosed with Covid-19 have died and there are four new cases of the disease in Ireland, health officials confirmed this evening.

It means that a total of 1,717 people have died with the disease in this country and that there has been 25,383 cases.

The government has indicated Ireland is on track to move into Phase 3 of the roadmap for easing restrictions from 29 June.

The National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) will meet this Thursday to provide public health advice ahead of this transition. 

Ahead of this evening’s Covid-19 briefing, chief medical officer Dr. Tony Holohan made reference to the fact that more than 183,000 new cases were reported globally yesterday, the most in a single day according to the World Health Organisation.

“In Ireland in the last 14 days over a third of new confirmed cases are in young people under the age of 35. This is not a disease that solely affects older people. No one is immune, everyone is responsible for limiting the spread of COVID-19,” he said.

Dr. Ronan Glynn, deputy CMO, also spoke about Department of Health research on the use of face coverings.

“While it is encouraging to see an increase in the number of people wearing face coverings in public places, 41% is a significantly lower uptake when compared to our other recommended behaviours such as hand washing (92%) and physical distancing (91%),” he said.

“Face coverings should be worn when it is difficult to maintain physical distancing, for instance in shops and on public transport.”

- With reporting by Rónán Duffy