Coronavirus: Further 43 Deaths Confirmed By Department Of Health

Latest news updates for Wednesday 30th April 2020.

Latest Figures:

The number of Covid-19 cases confirmed in the Midlands is now 974. 

Westmeath still contains the highest number of cases, up 13 to 474. 

Cases in Offaly have increased by 18 to 282 and there's now 218 patients in Laois, an increase of 2

A further 43 people with Covid19 have died in the Republic. 

359 new cases have also been confirmed. 

It now brings the death toll to 1232 & the number of confirmed cases stands at 20,612. 

The Health Protection Surveillance Centre has today been informed that a total of 43 people with COVID-19 have died.

There have now been a total of 1,232* COVID-19 related deaths in Ireland.

As of 11am Thursday 30th April, the HPSC has been notified of 359 new confirmed cases of COVID-19. There is now a total of 20,612 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ireland.

The HSE is working to identify any contacts the patients may have had to provide them with information and advice to prevent further spread.

Today’s data from the HPSC, as of midnight, Tuesday 28th April (20,111 cases), reveals:

·        58% are female and 42% are male

·        the median age of confirmed cases is 49 years

·        2,706 cases (13%) have been hospitalised

·        Of those hospitalised, 360 cases have been admitted to ICU

·        5,684 cases are associated with healthcare workers

·        Dublin has the highest number of cases at 9,967 (50% of all cases) followed by Kildare with 1,193 cases (6%) and then Cork with 1,146 cases (6%)

·        Of those for whom transmission status is known: community transmission accounts for 63%, close contact accounts for 33%, travel abroad accounts for 3%

Dr. Tony Holohan, Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health, said: “The latest report of COVID-19 cases in healthcare workers reveals that 34% of cases relate to nurses, healthcare assistants amount to 24% and cases among doctors is at 7%.

“Since the pandemic began in Ireland 72 nurses, 40 healthcare assistants, 22 doctors and 45 other allied healthcare workers have been hospitalised with COVID-19.”

Dr. Ronan Glynn, Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health, said: “Healthcare workers place themselves at risk everyday during this pandemic. Supporting them and doing everything possible to protect them in their work is a priority not just for NPHET and the HSE, but society at large. The willingness of people to stay home and follow public health advice has been instrumental in this effort.”

Professor Philip Nolan, Chair of NPHET Irish Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group, said: “To understand the importance of our next steps we should look back to the pattern of the epidemic at the beginning of March. Within 10 days we went from 50 people in ICU to 140 people in ICU. Currently, there are 106 patients in ICU. If a similar surge occurred on top of our current ICU figure, we would find it very difficult to manage the treatment of patients. This reflects the sensitivity required in relaxing restrictions.”

Smart speakers:

The Revenue Commissioners is urging its staff working remotely not to discuss work-related matters near a smart speaker.

It has issued guidance to staff members on a range matters, which include using Skype and Zoom as well as various data protection guidelines.

Revenue says it's based on OECD guidelines, which has flagged smart speakers and virtual assistants as a potential data protection risk. 

Mortgages:

People who are in financial difficulty because of Covid-19 are set to get another three-month mortgage holiday. 

A break for borrowers was introduced in March and it's due to expire at the end of June. 

But banks are set to extend the scheme, as the lockdown continues to leave thousands of people out of work. 

David Hall, from the Irish Mortgage Holders Organisation, welcomes the plans - but says more support is needed: 

Global status:

The World Health Organisation will meet later to discuss extending Covid-19's global public health emergency status.

The decision to upgrade the disease to its highest declaration was taken three months ago.

Over three million people have now tested positive for the coronavirus.

Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus from the WHO said the declaration in January gave countries time:

North's restrictions:

Northern Ireland is set to relax its restrictions on a gradual basis over the coming months. 

There are now nearly 3,500 cases in the six counties, along with 338 deaths. 

But the rate of growth of Covid-19 across the region has reduced in recent weeks. 

The North's agriculture minister, Edwin Poots, says the restrictions may be softened over the next while:

Deaths in residential settings:

Over 600 people have died from Covid-19 in long-term residential care facilities since the beginning of the year.

The total includes those who were tested for the disease, and people who were listed as probable deaths related to coronavirus.

Dr Kathleen McLellan from the Department of Health has details on the settings people died in:

Strong indication of no change in restrictions:

The Chief Medical Officer has given his strongest indication yet that Covid-19 restrictions won't be lifted, as planned, next Tuesday. 

The National Public Health Emergency Team is due to advise government tomorrow about whether any measures can be eased. 

Tomorrow's meeting of the country's top public health doctors will decide the Cabinet's position on whether any of the restrictions can be lifted from Tuesday.

However, the Chief Medical Officer has given the strongest hint yet at his daily press briefings that he won't be recommending any easing of the measures.

Dr. Tony Holohan said as things stand, he wouldn't be advising anything be lifted next week. 

He says hospital numbers are still too high: 

31 more people with Covid-19 have died, bringing the death toll to 1,190, while we now have over 20,000 confirmed cases.

The worry among the doctors in charge is that the numbers in intensive care and hospital beds is just too high to ease restrictions and the healthcare system would come under severe pressure if the number of infections rose quickly. 

Latest figures:

A further 31 people with Covid19 have died in the Republic.

The Deaprtment of Health has also confirmed there are 376 new cases.

The death toll now stands at 1,190.

The number of confirmed cases stands at 20,253.

There are 28 new confirmed cases in Offaly, bringing the total to 264.

The number of patients in Westmeath has increased by 13 to 461. 

And in Laois 216 people have tested positive for the illness - up from 212.