No new Covid-19 deaths have been reported in Ireland on Monday.
No new deaths in relation to Covid-19 were reported on Monday, while 59 new cases have been confirmed.
This brings the total number of confirmed cases in the Republic of Ireland to 24,698.
As of Monday evening, Ireland’s death toll stands at 1,606.
The Department of Health confirmed on Monday that the median age of confirmed cases is 48 years, and that 7,842 cases are associated with people working in healthcare.
Dublin has the highest number of cases with 11,876 (48% of all cases), followed by Cork with 1,438 (6%) and Kildare 1,390 (6%).
Chief Medical Officer Doctor Tony Holohan was in attendance at the daily briefing, and he reminded people that it is still too soon to know whether the easing of restrictions has had any effect yet.
He said: “The number of new cases and reported deaths over the past week indicated that we have suppressed Covid-19 as a country. It has taken strict measures to achieve this.
“It will take another week to see any affect on disease incidence that might arise from the easing of measures in Phase 1.”
In relation to the positive figure with regards to the lack of deaths, Holohan did point out that there is often a lag in reporting over the weekends.
In relation to that positive figure of no reported deaths, Dr Holohan says it is consistent with the trends we have seen, but warns that there is often a lag in reporting over the weekends.
For example, 4 deaths were reported last Monday and 10 on Tuesday.@JOEdotie
— Rob O'Hanrahan (@RobOHanrahan) May 25, 2020
Holohan also spoke about social distancing, saying that the measure of two metres for social distancing does not mean that everything outside two metres is safe, and everything inside it is not. He said taking part in social distancing is a reasonable compromise.
Earlier on Monday, UCC professor Gerry Killeen said that it’s “guaranteed” that a second wave of Covid-19 cases will come if we are to ease restrictions.
He said: “There’s no way to get to Phase Five without causing a second wave so then I’d ask the question, why would we embark on a journey that sooner or later is going to backfire on us?”
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