R-number rises to 1.8 for Covid-19 infections

The reproduction number for the virus has risen to 1.8.

Professor Philip Nolan, the chairman of NPHET’s modelling group, says the country is going in the wrong direction.

69 more Covid-19 cases have been confirmed and 5 further deaths have been recorded.

Four of the deaths announced today, happened in previous months.

Northern Ireland reported 43 cases earlier, meaning there have been 112 cases reported on the island on Thursday.

The local total is officially still 536 although the Department of Health did say that at least one new case of Covid-19 had been reported in Carlow in recent days.

The official total for the county as of midnight on Monday is still 179, with 357 positive test results in Kilkenny at that time.