A further 43 people have died after testing positive for Covid-19 in the Republic of Ireland, the Department of Health confirmed this evening. The death toll has risen to 486.
Of the 43 deaths, 27 had an underlying health condition. It is understood that the median age of the deceased was 84.
Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan also revealed that 629 new cases were diagnosed. 95 cases were also confirmed by German laboratories who are currently working through a backlog of Irish tests.
There are now 13,271 confirmed cases in Ireland, but there has yet to be any information on the number of recovered patients.
Dr Tony Holohan stressed that we need to continue protecting the most vulnerable members of our society. “In order to protect the vulnerable, the first task was to suppress the virus in the population at large. We are increasingly confident that we are achieving this. All of our efforts now need to be on extinguishing Covid-19 in our community residential settings, including nursing homes.”
