“We all need to recognise how well our younger generation has reduced their contacts and helped to protect the whole population."

The Health Protection Surveillance Centre has been notified that three more people with Covid-19 have died in Ireland. The HPSC were also notified of a further 248 confirmed cases of Covid-19. 99 of the cases are in Dublin, 21 in Louth, 16 in Limerick,15 in Meath, 13 in Cavan and the remaining 83 cases are spread across 20 other counties. As of 2pm on Saturday, 185 Covid-19 patients were hospitalised, of which 31 are in ICU. There have been 10 additional hospitalisations in the past 24 hours. Dr. Tony Holohan, Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health, said: “Ireland currently has the lowest incidence in Europe and has protected against the significant mortality and severe illness that many European countries, as well as the United States, have experienced. “Our younger generation led the way, with the incidence in the 19-24 year age group reduced from 432 per 100,000 population to 41 per 100,000 population. This is an enormous achievement. “We all need to recognise how well our younger generation has reduced their contacts and helped to protect the whole population. We all now need to follow this example in the weeks ahead. “We can do this by planning from now for Christmas to reduce our social contacts and limit our activities to those that are essential and most important to us."