Three deaths, 254 cases, 136 in Dublin, another rise in Mayo
The Health Protection Surveillance Centre has today been informed that three people have died with Covid-19 in the past 24 hours.
There are 254 new confirmed cases of Covid-19, bringing the total to 31,798.
Of those, 23,364 have recovered today. The number of active cases is 5,837.
Mayo has seen another increase, bringing its total to 611 since the start of the pandemic.
Of the cases notified today:
115 are men and 133 are women.
65% are under 45 years of age.
61% are confirmed to be associated with outbreaks or are close contacts of a confirmed case.
24 cases have been identified as community transmission.
136 are in Dublin, 20 in Donegal, 13 in Louth, 12 in Wicklow, 9 in Waterford, 7 in Carlow, 7 in Cork, 6 in Galway, 5 in Kerry, 5 in Wexford and the remaining 28 cases are located in Clare, Kildare, Kilkenny, Laois, Leitrim, Limerick, Longford, Mayo, Monaghan, Offaly, Roscommon and Westmeath.
Dr. Ronan Glynn, Acting Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health, said:"The current situation has deteriorated both in Dublin and nationally over the past week.
"Along with Dublin we have seen particularly concerning trends in Louth, Waterford and Donegal.
"It is now absolutely essential that people action public health advice and act as if they or those close to them are potentially infectious."
Professor Philip Nolan, chair of the NPHET Irish Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group, said: "The reproduction number is between 1.3 – 1.7 nationally.
"I am more concerned than I have been at any point since late April.
"Case numbers appear to be growing exponentially and are likely to double every 10 to 14 days if every one of us does not immediately act to break chains of transmission of the virus.
"If we do not interrupt transmission now, bringing the r-number back to below 1, modelling shows that we could have 500 - 1,000 cases per day by the 16th of October, 50-60% of which would be in Dublin."
Dr. Colm Henry, Chief Clinical Officer, HSE, said: "There are currently 73 Covid-19 patients in hospital, 9 of these have been admitted in the past 24 hours.
"14 of these patients are in ICU. We are seeing a sharp increase in rate of admissions of C patients into our acute hospitals. We
"now that without a reversal of these trends, admissions can escalate rapidly to the point where our healthcare facilities will be under unsustainable pressure.
"It is more essential than ever that we all adhere to the basic measures which can weaken the virus in the community."
Dr. Mary Favier, Covid-19 advisor to the Irish College of General Practitioners, said: "While we have been conducting a large number of tests on children, thanks to the vigilance of parents around symptoms and contacting GP’s with concerns, we have not witnessed a disproportionate rise in the number of confirmed cases in children."