Coronavirus: Department Of Health Confirms 2 People Have Died

National new on Wednesday 19th August.

Local figures:

The Health Protection Surveillance Centre has today been informed that 2 people with COVID-19 in Ireland have died.

There has now been a total of 1,775* COVID-19 related deaths in Ireland. (*Validation of data at the HPSC led to the denotification of 2 deaths. The figure of 1,775 reflects this.)

As of midnight Tuesday 18 August, the HPSC has been notified of 54 confirmed cases of COVID-19. There is now a total of 27,547** confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ireland. (Validation of data at the HPSC led to the denotification of 6 confirmed cases. The figure of 27,547 reflects this.)

Of the cases notified today:

• 24 are men and 29 are women
• 67% are under 45 years of age
• 27 are confirmed to be associated with outbreaks or are close contacts of a confirmed case
• 8 cases have been identified as community transmission
• 19 are in Dublin, 8 in Kildare, 5 in Tipperary and the rest of the cases are in Carlow, Clare, Donegal, Kerry, Kilkenny, Laois, Limerick, Longford, Louth, Meath, Offaly, Waterford and Wexford

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

All statistics measured at midnight on Monday 17th August show there have been 683 cases confirmed in Westmeath, 602 in Offaly and Laois has had 363. 

Note: The acting Chief Medical Officer, Ronan Glynn, releases figures for the counties with the highest number of cases as of midnight, and the latest county by county breakdown available from the Department of Health are  measured at midnight on Monday 17th August. 

Payments:

Parents and guardians are being reminded to make an application for the Back To School: Clothing and Footwear allowance.

The child must be aged between 4 and 11 for a 150 euro payment, or 12 and 22 for 275 euro  - as it includes students in college.

Those in receipt of the Pandemic Unemployment Payment are eligible to claim for their children.

Government official Liz Canavan says applications are open until the September 30th:

Pope:

The Pope has warned against giving the richest priority when it comes to a coronavirus vaccine.

He told his weekly audience that the outbreak has laid bare the great inequality that reigns in the world.

Francis added that "we must come out better" from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Nursing homes:

All new residents of nursing homes should be tested for coronavirus prior to admission, according to the Covid 19 Nursing Homes Expert Panel.

It's published its final report in which it also recommends people should only be admitted to homes that can show their infection control measures are sufficient. 

It says for the next 18 months or until the pandemic ends, nursing home staff should be prevented from working across multiple sites and adequate contracts should be in place to support this.

Chair of the expert panel, Professor Cecily Kelleher, says systemic reform in nursing homes and care of older people is needed:

School buses:

The Government is weighing up whether or not additional school buses are needed.

They will operate without social distancing when children return in two weeks.

This is despite public transport services running at half capacity.

Assistant General Secretary Liz Canavan says there are additional hygiene measures already in place for the school bus:

Northern Ireland:

There have been 34 new cases of Covid 19 in the north and no new deaths.

It brings the total number of cases in Northern Ireland to 6,505.

The death toll stands at 559.

Bake off:

Filming has finished on the upcoming series of The Great British Bake Off.

Production on the show - which was due to start in the Spring - was delayed because of the coronavirus pandemic.

It's the first season of the cooking programme that will see Matt Lucas in his new role as host after Sandi Toksvig left to focus on other projects. 

Garda powers:

The Government insists giving Gardaí new enforcement powers to shut down pubs and house parties breaching Covid-19 restrictions is a priority. 

Legislation will need to be passed by the Dail, which doesn't resume until September 15th, two days after the restrictions are due to expire.

The Government wants Gardaí to have the power to shut down businesses and house parties on the spot for breaching covid-19 restrictions 

It's seeking advice from the attorney general on legislation that will give Gardaí enforcement powers should they discover a pub is serving alcohol without food, or that a social gathering of more than 6 people from 3 households is underway. 

However the Dail isn't sitting until after the restrictions are due to expire, calling into question how the Government plans to get the legislation passed.

Minister Dara Calleary says the Attorney General will have to be consulted over the move:

There's a possibility the Dail may have to be recalled, with Independent TD Mattie McGrath raising serious concerns about giving the Gardaí increased powers without having the opportunity to debate the proposal. 

Gardaí have found policing the restrictions in licensed premises and at house parties a challenge and would welcome powers that would further assist them. 

Staycations:

Cork is the most popular 'staycation' destination, followed by Kerry.

According to AIB, the average domestic card transaction in the hospitality sector is up year on year as Irish consumers staycation this summer:

This data was compiled from over one million AIB debit and credit card transactions up to the 3rd August.

It shows that people holidaying at home spent 19 million euro in the pub, 30 million in restaurants and 28 million in hotels during the month of July.

However, spend is still down when compared with July 2019.

Cork is the popular hotel 'staycation' destination followed by Kerry.

Since reopening, those in Monaghan and Kilkenny are spending the most in pubs per card transaction and those in Clare and Donegal are spending the least. 

Meanwhile those in Kildare spent the most per card transaction in restaurants with those in Carlow spending the least.

Leaving Cert:

An 18 year old Leaving Cert student has won a High Court challenge after he was excluded from receiving a calculated grade from his mother.

The Department of Education had argued his mother, who is also his teacher has a conflict of interest. 

However the Court found the decision to exclude students who are schooled by a parent at home is arbitrary, unfair and unreasonable.

Elijah Bourke from Castlebar in Co Mayo took the case claiming there at least 10 other students around the country in the same position. 

Airports:

Ten million fewer passengers used Irish airports in April, May and June compared to the same period last year.

Just 164,400 people passed through our five main airports in Dublin, Cork, Shannon, Kerry and Knock, according to new CSO data.

These new figures from the Central Statistics Office highlight the dramatic impact Covid-19 has had on Irish air travel in the past six months.

In April, May and June, 164,400 people passed through Dublin, Cork, Shannon, Knock and Kerry - a drop of more than 10.3 million compared to the same period last year.

155,000 were in Dublin, 7,800 in Cork, 800 in Kerry and 120 in Shannon.

Knock recorded none as it was closed over the period.

Flight numbers during the three months also dipped by more than 67,500.

The figures also show that 88 percent of passengers travelled to or from Europe, with the UK and Netherlands the most popular.

Outside of Europe the most popular routes was the US.

Recovery:

A 33 year old man who suffered with Covid for five months says it was a terrifying experience.

Dean Feeney says he dealt with severe heart palpitations and episodes of confusion after being diagnosed.

He says it's not just a virus that affects older people:

Cases:

Hundreds of new cases of Covid-19 would have been confirmed in the coming weeks, if new measures weren't brought in.

That's according to a key member of the National Public Health Emergency Team who says the increase would've been significantly more than what's been seen in recent days. 

The elderly have been asked to limit their contacts, while indoor social visits have been reduced to six people from three households. 

Gardaí will be given new powers to police pubs, restaurants and house parties. 

Chair of the NPHET Modelling Advisory Group Philip Nolan says we need to suppress the virus once again:

Smell:

Scientists analysing Covid-19 symptoms have found a loss of smell is "much more profound" when compared with a bad cold or flu.

They've looked at people's experiences of losing some of their senses alongside those who had upper respiratory tract infections.

They believe their findings could help in developing smell and taste tests as a more rapid screening tool to identify those who may have the virus.

Leaving Cert:

Leaving Cert Students will receive their teachers' estimated marks a week after receiving their official calculated grades next month.

According to the Irish Times, students won't immediately see the extent to which their grades have been adjusted by an algorithm. 

It comes after almost 40 percent of grades were downgraded in the UK resulting in a U-turn from the British government.

The Minister for Education says Ireland's Leaving Cert calculated grades model won't have the same problems as the UK system. 

But Leaving Cert student from Co. Mayo, Aidan Cusack, says he's not sure the Irish system will be any different:

Northern Ireland:

In Northern Ireland, restrictions could also be reintroduced following a rise in cases of Covid-19.

Its health minister Robin Swann had this warning:

Over 70s:

Asking people over 70 to 'act safely' was the right approach rather than enforce cocooning. 

That's according to Sean Moynihan, CEO of Alone. 

Older people are being asked to limit their network of contacts for the coming weeks and go shopping at designated times.

Sean Moynihan, CEO of Alone says trusting the over 70's own judgement was the right approach:

Sport:

People cannot understand the logic behind putting GAA games behind closed doors, according to a Fianna Fail TD.

Michael Moynihan says Government needs to show evidence the spike in cases is connected to spectators at club games. 

Deputy Moynihan's calling for clarity on the issue:

Garda powers:

New Garda powers to police pubs, restaurants and house parties are being drawn up by government and the Attorney General.

It's part of new restrictions which will see the elderly asked to limit their contact with others, and people urged to keep indoor social visits to no more than 6 people from 3 households. 

People are also being asked to avoid public transport, while opening times for restaurants and pubs serving food have been extended by half an hour to 11:30.

CEO of the Restaurants Association, Adrian Cummins, says they lobbied hard for the later closing time:

Staycation:

People are being encouraged to consider making their summer staycations permanent as part of a new campaign.

The More to Life initiative aims to highlight the job opportunities and quality-of-life benefits of relocating from big cities to rural areas.

A new survey shows there has been a 200 percent increase in queries to estate agents from people considering a move west.

Alan Mulrooney from the Western Development Commission says it's proving very popular at the moment:

GPs:

The reason behind the Government's decision to introduce such measures to curtail the spread of Covid-19 is because the Irish health system doesn't have the capacity to cope with another outbreak.  

That's according to GP Maithiu O'Tuathail who was reacting to the yesterday's annoucement on the new measures. 

The Dublin GP says he is concerned about what is ahead:

Working from home:

A HR specialist says remote working should remain on the cards in the months ahead following last nights announcement.

Mary Connaughton from CIPD Ireland says companies should be cautious about returning staff to the workplace:

Pubs:

The Taoiseach says a decision into reopening pubs that don't serve food will be made at the end of August as planned.

Micheal Martin says new restrictions announced yesterday evening will not impact on the current plans to review Phase 4.

The measures, which include reducing the numbers that can gather in homes, are in effect until September 13th.

Taoiseach Micheal Martin says pubs will continue to be under review until the end of the month:

Airports:

Random testing will be introduced at airports across the country.

There isn't a date set for when the measure will be introduced, but it was announced by the Health minister yesterday evening.

Stephen Donnelly says it's because those involved in the testing programme have been focusing on the large number of clusters in the likes of meat plants and direct provision centres.

He says it's one of at least 5 measures being introduced for airports:

Local figures:

190 new cases were confirmed yesterday in the Republic. 

The Health Protection Surveillance Centre was also informed that 1 person with COVID-19 in Ireland has died.

There has now been a total of 1,775 COVID-19 related deaths in Ireland.

48 in Kildare, 46 in Dublin, 38 in Tipperary, 20 in Limerick, 7 in Clare and the rest of the 31 cases are in Carlow, Cork, Kerry, Kilkenny, Laois, Louth, Meath, Offaly, Waterford, Wexford and Wicklow.

Offaly now has over 600 confirmed cases of the virus, figures measured at midnight on Sunday 16 August show 602 people in the Faithful have tested positive for the illness. 

Laois has the lowest number of causes in the region with 362, while Westmeath has the highest with 683. 

Note: The acting Chief Medical Officer, Ronan Glynn, releases figures for the counties with the highest number of cases as of midnight, and the latest county by county breakdown available from the Department of Health are measured at midnight on Sunday 16th August.