The Chief Medical Officer says it’s hoped schools can reopen as soon as possible but has warned the levels of Covid19 are nowhere near where they need to be.
A further 51 deaths linked to the virus were confirmed last night with 2,608 new cases, 33 in Carlow with 15 in Kilkenny.
NPHET estimates the reproduction number of the disease is now between 0.5 and 0.8 saying “substantial progress” has been made in the last few weeks.
However Dr Tony Holohan says transmission levels need to be reduced further to allow a full re-opening of schools.
Health officials say any reduction in the number of people in hospital with Covid will be “very slow”.
There were 1.923 patients being treated in public hospitals last night, while 211 of those people were in Intensive Care Units. Four of these were at the local ICU at St Luke’s Hospital, among 29 patients being treated for the virus there. There were no new admissions up to last night and no further suspected cases at the local facility.
Professor Philip Nolan from NPHET’s modelling advisory group says it could take a while for those numbers to come down.
Health Service
The impact of Covid19 on the health service will be discussed at a meeting of the Oireachtas Health Committee.
Over 54,000 non-Covid procedures can now go ahead in private hospitals due to a deal with the facilities, with almost 86,000 diagnostic tests.
Representatives from the HSE and the National Public Health Emergency Team will face questions from TDs and Senators later.
In the UK
Everyone who tests positive for Covid-19 in England could automatically be given around 550 euro.
The Guardian newspaper says it’s seen a document which shows UK ministers think it could help motivate people to quarantine.
A poll’s found just one in four people there stick to isolation rules.
