PUBLIC HEALTH OFFICIALS have warned that they are seeing an increase in the number of cases among young people, 17 of the 23 new confirmed cases today are under the age of 25.

NPHET believes Covid-19 was passed on through socialising in a number of those cases.

Furthermore, 15 of today’s confirmed cases are directly or indirectly related to travel and the R number is now at or just above 1 again.

Acting chief medical officer Dr Ronan Glynn told reporters at a briefing this evening that not all of the travel-related cases are in people under the age of 25 but there is some crossover.

Professor Philip Nolan also told tonight’s briefing that we are starting to see more clusters as Ireland begins to open up again.

He said people under 40 are constituting an increased proportion of the number of Covid-19 cases in recent weeks.

Dr Glynn said many of these cases are linked to “groups meeting up”.

“It’s not unexpected from the perspective that the measures in place are easing, and I want to reiterate it’s not about targetting any age group or any group in the population,” he said. “It’s not about blame, it’s about protecting each other and reiterating the point that we can all get on with the activities we want, but we need to do so safely.

If we try to go back to living and acting like we did last January, it’s only a matter of time before we’re facing a significant problem with this disease. 

He did emphasise, however, the “overall situation” remains “stable”. 

Dr Glynn also said he was concerned about the possibility of seeing people gathering in large numbers this weekend.

“We’ll be watching very closely what happens this weekend,” he said. “The priority across society is to get schools back, health services back up and running and as many people can get back to normal life as possible.”

He said there was clear evidence that such gatherings in recent weeks had led to the transmission of Covid-19. “It only takes one person in that group to spread Covid,” Dr Glynn said.

“Please think twice. Of course, meet up. But please adhere to the guidance.

This disease is not going to be gone in a fortnight’s time. We need to learn to live with it… I’m confident the vast majority of people in Ireland want to do the right thing. 

With reporting from Cónal Thomas at the Department of Health