Nine more deaths have been confirmed.
It was announced at this evening's National Public Health Emergency Team briefing that nine more people had died in Ireland after being diagnosed with Covid-19. Taking into account the denotification of one death, Ireland's known death toll now stands at 1,639.
Additionally, the NPHET announced that 46 more cases had been confirmed in the Republic of Ireland. There have now been a total of 24,841 cases of the virus confirmed since the beginning of the outbreak.
Speaking at this evening's briefing, Chief Medical Office Dr. Tony Holohan said that "a mortality paper prepared and discussed by the NPHET today... identifies that Ireland has been within the lower range in overall terms compared with other health systems across Europe."
Holohan also confirmed that the NPHET would continue to report all deaths that are confirmed cases of Covid-19, and probably cases of Covid-19.
Dr. Ronan Glynn, Deputy CMO, further noted that Ireland had added sudden loss of smell (anosmia) and sudden loss of taste (ageusia) to the list of Covid-19 symptoms.
Professor Phillip Nolan, Chair of the NPHET Irish Epidemiology Modelling Advisory Group noted that Ireland's R0 is estimated at 0.5, with ICU and hospital admissions continuing to decline. Prof. Nolan noted that next week we will begin to see whether there has been any increase in detectable transmission of the virus as a result of the Phase One easing of restrictions.
"Next week we will see figures that reflect the impact of Phase 1 measures on key disease spread indictors. It is our hope that the r-number will remain below one and our progress is preserved," said Nolan.
