People in Kildare are waking up this morning to their first day out of lockdown in more than three weeks.
Restrictions were lifted yesterday after a recent drop in the level of Covid-19 cases. Some worrying news for Carlow though – read here
It comes as the National Public Health Emergency Team raises concern over the number of people wearing face coverings incorrectly.
The public health officials say they’re noticing too many people wearing masks under their chin, or not covering their noses.
No further deaths have been recorded but 53 new cases of the virus have been confirmed to midnight Sunday, none of them in Carlow or Kilkenny.
Acting Chief Medical Officer Ronan Glynn says while the level of compliance is encouraging, there are huge risks if people don’t wear a mask properly noting “If we can just take the opportunity to remind people that if you are wearing them to wear them properly, we’ve seen far too many people walking around with them under their chin, we’re seeing many people wearing them but with their nose exposed, neither of those things provides any protection and indeed may increase the risk”.
Meanwhile, the number of locals getting the Pandemic Unemployment Payment is down on last week – but only marginally.
5,800 people across Carlow and KIlkenny are getting the payment into their bank accounts this morning.
That’s slightly down on the figure of 6,100 last week but it’s just a fraction of the peak in May of 33,900.
2,000 locals are also getting the Enhanced Illness Benefit – up 100 on the total from last week.
€70,000,000 is being paid out to 225,000 people on the PUP across the country today, with €3.3billion paid out so far in total.
