HEALTH OFFICIALS HAVE this evening confirmed 611 more cases of Covid-19 in Ireland.
There have also been five further deaths associated with the disease.
This brings to 39,584 the total number of confirmed coronavirus cases and 1,816 deaths in Ireland.
Of the cases notified today
The Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan, who returned to the role this week, is currently leading a press conference at the Department of Health to discuss the current situation with Covid-19 in Ireland.
Holohan said “it’s good to be back” in the position and added that he is “deeply indebted” to the deputy CMO Dr Ronan Glynn for his work over the past few months.
The CMO said in a statement: “All key indicators of the disease have deteriorated further in the three days since the last meeting of NPHET on Sunday 4th October.
“COVID-19 is spreading in our community in a very worrying manner. We have to break these chains of transmission,” he said.
Professor Philip Nolan, chair of the NPHET Irish Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group, said that case numbers and hospitalisations are “growing exponentially”.
“The reproductive number is now estimated at 1.2. If we fail to reduce viral transmission nationwide immediately, we could see 1,100 – 1,500 cases per day and 300-450 people in hospital by November 7th,” he said.
Nolan said Ireland is currently in a “very precarious” position.
The current five-day average case number is 509 cases each day.
He said that although the average daily case numbers in Dublin have been reducing over the past few days, it is too soon to say whether the transmission rate is lower in Dublin than in other counties.
The case numbers outside Dublin have “quite clearly” doubled over the course of a week, Nolan said.
Dr Ronan Glynn said this evening that there have been at least six new Covid-19 outbreaks declared in nursing homes so far in October.
With reporting by Cónal Thomas at the Department of Health.
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