There were six deaths related to COVID-19 reported today, along with 23 new cases confirmed as of midnight on Wednesday.
Fortunately, despite this spike in new cases today, none were in Galway where the city and county total remains at 487 confirmed cases.
COVID-19 has no claimed 1,743 lives in the Republic of Ireland, and there have been a total of 25,565 confirmed cases in the state.
Validation of data by the HPSC has resulted in the denotification of one death, which is reflected in the national tally.
The HSE is working to identify any contacts the patients may have had to provide them with information and advice to prevent the spread of the virus.
Figures from the HSE show that the COVID Tracker contact tracing app which went live on Tuesday, has been downloaded over 1 million times in less than two.
We are at 1,071,581 downloads of the #CovidTrackerApp. That’s 29% of the adult population over 16 in Ireland. With your help, we will get over 30% today. Let’s keep it going. Download the app here➡️ https://t.co/sq3sb5PGj1 pic.twitter.com/ZdNJVEc8lu
— HSE Ireland (@HSELive) July 9, 2020
“Today, NPHET has recommended that all visitors to healthcare settings including hospitals, GP practices and pharmacies, should wear face coverings,” said Dr. Ronan Glynn, Acting Chief Medical Officer.
Of the cases reported today, 15 were related to overseas travel, and the National Public Health Emergency Team is reiterating its advice that all non-essential overseas travel should be avoided.
In addition, more than three quarters of today’s cases were among people under the age of 25.
“COVID-19 is extremely infectious and none of us are immune. It is important that we all continue to follow public health advice and risk assess our actions,” Dr. Ronan Glynn added.
Professor Philip Nolan, Chair of the NPHET Irish Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group said added that there has been an increase in the number of reported cases over the past two weeks.
The virus’ R number is now at or above 1, he added. The R number is the average number of other people a person infected with the virus is expected to spread it to. Keeping that figure below one is essential to stamping it out.
“There is an immediate need for all of us to take care and caution in our decisions and actions.”
