There have been 14 more deaths from Covid-19 in Ireland. All 14 deaths were in the East of the country with the median age reported of 81 years old.
This means there have now been a total of 36 deaths from coronavirus here in Ireland. By 1pm today (Saturday), there was another 294 new confirmed cases of Covid-19, bringing the total to 2,415 cases diagnosed.
Here in Kilkenny, there are 29 confirmed cases of coronavirus while there are five or less in Carlow. However, these figures are from Thursday last and it’s not clear if the Kilkenny figures include any Carlow cases diagnosed at St Luke’s.
Also this evening, the list has been published of essential service providers under new public health guidelines. You can read the full list of essential services here: https://www.gov.ie/en/publication/dfeb8f-list-of-essential-service-providers-under-new-public-health-guidelin/#information-and-communications
The Government has decided that people everybody should stay at home until April 12th 2020, except for the following situations:
- to travel to and from work, or for purposes of work, only where the work is an essential health, social care or other essential service and cannot be done from home
- to shop for essential food, beverage and household goods or collect a meal
- to attend medical appointments and collect medicines and other health products
- for vital family reasons, such as providing care to children, elderly or vulnerable people
- to take brief individual physical exercise within 2km of your home, which may include children from your household, as long as you adhere to strict 2m physical distancing
- for farming purposes, ie food production and/or care of animals
- As stated in previous guidance, all employees should work remotely from home if at all possible.
The Government is encouraging where possible for workers to do their jobs remotely and the following advice to employers.
“Refer to this guidance to decide whether your organisation is providing an essential service; it is not necessary to seek official authorisation. If you are providing an essential service, you should identify those employees (including sub-contractors etc) who are essential to the provision of that service and notify them (this can be done by category of employee or by individual; it could include all employees of the organisation).”
The statement adds: “When travelling to and from work, you should at all times bring with you either a work identification or a letter from your employer indicating that you are an essential employee, as well as one other form of identification. If you are self-employed, a farmer or agricultural worker, or a member of the clergy, you should carry one form of identification with you at all times.
“If you are a volunteer who is working as part of the national community response, you are permitted to travel for that purpose, eg if you are delivering food, supplies or medicine to a person who is cocooned or vulnerable. The Local Government emergency response teams will co-ordinate that response at local level.”
If you are not engaged in the provision of essential services, then you are not permitted to travel to and from work until April 12th 2020. However, the guidance adds that a grace period remains in place until Monday March 30 at 6pm.
