No new deaths but 50 additional virus cases reported today

THERE have been no new deaths reported to the Health Protection Surveillance Centre today.

As of midnight Tuesday, the HPSC has been notified of 50 confirmed new cases of Covid-19. There is now 26,303 confirmed cases of the virus in Ireland.

Of the cases notified today, none are in Co. Mayo.

Eighty-one per cent of the new cases are in people under 45 years of age.

Dr. Ronan Glynn, Acting Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health, said: "I know the decision yesterday not to move to Phase 4 will have been disappointing for many. However, NPHET’s priority must be to control the spread of this virus in our communities and to protect the progress that we have achieved to date.

"Covid-19 is an extremely contagious virus and we have seen a significant increase in its spread across multiple counties over recent days. We are monitoring this very closely.”