HEALTH OFFICIALS HAVE confirmed that there have been no new deaths related to Covid-19 in Ireland.

It means that the number of people in this country with the coronavirus who have sadly died remains at 1,706.

This is the second day since March that no new Covid-19-related deaths have been confirmed, with the first being 25 May.

The National Public Health Emergency Team has also said that a further 18 cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed, brining the total in this country to 25,321.

Today’s data from the HPSC shows that, as of midnight on Saturday, 13 June: 

• 57% of cases are female and 43% are male
• The median age of confirmed cases is 48
• 3,278 cases (13%) have been hospitalised
• Of those hospitalised, 417 cases have been admitted to ICU
• 8,130 cases are associated with healthcare workers
• Dublin has the highest number of cases at 12,213, followed by Cork with 1,533 cases and Kildare with 1,434 cases
• Of those for whom transmission status is know, community transmission accounts for 37%, close contact accounts for 60% and travel abroad accounts for 2%. 

A bi-weekly media briefing about Covid-19 is taking place in the Department of Health this evening involving chief medical officer Dr. Tony Holohan, deputy CMO Dr. Ronan Glynn and the HSE’s integrated care lead Dr Siobhán Ní Bhriain.

In a statement this evening, Dr Holohan said: “An analysis of cases reported in the last 14 days tells us that the number of daily cases remains on a downward trend. This combined with hospitalisation and ICU trends indicates that the behaviours adopted by the general public continue to suppress the disease in the community.” 

This evenings briefing is taking place after the Taoiseach and Minister for Health both launched a government information campaign on the wearing of face coverings this morning. 

Dr Glynn said: “Based on our research to date, almost 1.7 million people are now reporting wearing face coverings in public places. This is an increase of 6% or almost 300,000 people a week and shows that the message is getting across.”

With reporting by Hayley Halpin