Of the cases notified today, two thirds are under the age of 45. 36 per cent are confirmed to be associated with outbreaks or are close contacts of a confirmed case, while 45 cases have been identified as community transmission.
209 of today's cases are located in Dublin, 27 in Cork, 22 in Donegal, 21 in Galway, 14 in Kildare, 14 in Monaghan, seven in Roscommon, seven in Tipperary, seven in Waterford, seven in Wexford, six in Limerick, six in Longford, five in Laois, five in Meath, five in Offaly, five in Sligo, with the remaining 23 cases spread across eight other counties.
With the way this is moving, it's possible that recommendations could be made about any county.
Speaking about today's figures, acting chief medical officer Dr Ronan Glynn said: "It's a high number any day of the week. We're still continuing to see higher numbers that we would like across the country with a number of counties continuing to rise."
Dr Glynn highlighted Cork and Galway as regions of concern but added the purpose of highlighting these areas was not to say they would enter a lockdown, but rather to say to people living there that this is "still in your control" and additional measures could be avoided.
He said that Limerick, Waterford and Tipperary were examples of places that had done "really well," that had "turned around situations that were going in the wrong direction."
Dr Glynn also issued cautions for four other counties, saying that incidence rates in Kildare and Louth were "stable but high" and it "wouldn't take much for them to go in the wrong direction again".
He said that incidence rates had also risen sharply in Monaghan and Roscommon, however, because their overall population sizes were lower, incidence rates could rise quickly with a relatively small number of cases. Dr Glynn said the regions nonetheless "do stand out" as areas of concern.
Asked about further restrictions around the country, Dr Glynn said: "With the way this is moving, it's possible that recommendations could be made about any county."
Healthcare workers
At tonight's briefing, healthcare worker Jerick Martin shared his experience with Covid-19 after spending 68 days in intensive care in an induced coma, issuing an appeal to the nation to take the virus seriously.
“I was a fit and healthy man in my thirties, working and enjoying my life... This disease does not care that you are young, fit and healthy. It does not care that you have a family who are waiting for you to come home. Anyone can catch it, and anyone can become very sick," he said.
Dr Michael Power, Consultant in Intensive Care Medicine at Beaumount Hospital, said: “Jerick Martin’s story and experience tell us that the Covid virus was and remains unforgiving, unrelenting and dangerous. It reminds us that compliance with public health measures is to key to limiting the spread of this disease.”
Liam Woods of the HSE added: “The front line on Covid-19 is in the ICU wards and in the hospitals. As numbers increase in the community, the pressure on healthcare workers and frontline services intensifies.
"We need to continue to pull together in the coming weeks to minimise the spread of the disease in our homes, our communities and our workplaces, to ease the pressure on vital Covid and non-Covid healthcare services.”
It comes as a further 220 people have been diagnosed with Covid-19 in Northern Ireland, while no new deaths have been reported in the region.
Over a third of Covid-19 cases have been among those aged 24 or younger in the last two weeks, according to new figures from the Health Protection Surveillance Centre.
A 20 year old student has described the “deathbed” experience he faced following a diagnosis with the disease two weeks ago.
The Government is expected to decide at the end of the week whether additional restrictions are required across four more counties after a spike in Covid-19 cases on Sunday night, with public health teams closely monitoring Cork, Wicklow, Galway and Louth.
A Cork-based GP has said he would be very surprised if the county was not moved to Level Three of the Living with Covid-19 plan due to its rising cases.
