A further 13 deaths and an additional 1,718 new cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed this evening by the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet).
It means there has been a total of 2,226 Covid-19 related deaths in Ireland.
With 1,718 new cases confirmed this evening, it means there is now a total of 90,157 confirmed cases of the virus in Ireland.
Nphet said of the cases notified today: 853 are men and 863 are women, 66 per cent are under 45 years of age and the median age is 34 years old.
As regards the location of today's cases: 358 are in Dublin, there are 164 in Cork, 155 in Louth, 150 in Donegal, 112 in Galway and the remaining 779 cases are spread across all other counties.
As of 2pm today 455 Covid-19 patients are hospitalised, of which 37 are in ICU. 60 additional hospitalisations were confirmed in the past 24 hours.
Mitigation phase
Speaking about today's figures, Dr. Tony Holohan, chief medical officer said: “Ireland is no longer in a containment phase and is once again in a mitigation phase. Given the current levels of transmission in the community, every individual should consider themselves potentially infectious.
“It is essential that we all limit our contacts to our own household now, restrict our movements and do not give COVID-19 any further opportunities to spread.
“Everyone needs to stay at home other than for essential work or care. This is not the time to be visiting other houses.”
Meanwhile, professor Philip Nolan, chair of the Nphet Irish Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group, said: “The reproduction number remains very high and is currently estimated at 1.6 – 1.8. The growth rate is estimated to be 7-10 per cent per day with a doubling time of 7-10 days.
“We must take action immediately to prevent an almost unimaginable scenario, where case numbers in 7 to 10 days time are twice what they are today. Stay home.”
