Ireland logged a further 8,337 cases of Covid-19 on Friday, according to the Department of Health, with the country’s President among those who recently tested positive.
4,033 cases were confirmed by PCR test, while 4,304 positive antigen test results were uploaded to the HSE portal. The Department has cautioned that self-registered test results are not directly comparable with laboratory PCR-confirmed cases.
There were 670 patients hospitalised with the virus as of this morning, with 43 people in intensive care.
It comes as President Michael D Higgins and his wife Sabina tested positive after taking an antigen test earlier on Friday. Both are displaying mild symptoms of Covid-19 and will isolate for the next seven days.
Most remaining Covid-19 rules eased at the beginning of the week, including mandatory mask-wearing by law in certain settings. However, public health advice recommends that masks continue to be worn on public transport and in healthcare settings.
Rules in schools have also changed, with social distancing and pods ended, along with staggered break times. Changes have additionally been made to the test and trace system, with PCR tests now only recommended for over-55s and the medically vulnerable.
