Coronavirus: Department Of Health Confirms 43 More Deaths

The latest national updates on Thursday 16th April.

Latest Figures:

There's now 605 confirmed cases in the Midlands. 

Westmeath remains the highest with 309, an increase of 51 from yesterday, Offaly has 163, a rise of 13 while the number of confirmed cases in Laois is up by 15 to 133 in the last 24 hours. 

43 more covid-19 patients have died and another 724 positive tests have been reported for coronavirus. 

629 of today's cases are from recent tests, and another 95 from a lab in Germany processing older swabs. 

The total death toll here is now 486, with a total of 13,271 confirmed cases. 

The Health Protection Surveillance Centre has today been informed that 43 people diagnosed with COVID-19 in Ireland have died.

·        34 deaths located in the east, 4 in the west, 5 in the south of the country

·        the people included 22 males and 21 females

·        the median age of today’s reported deaths is 84

·        27 people were reported as having underlying health conditions

There have now been 486* COVID-19 related deaths in Ireland.

As of 1pm Wednesday 15th April, the HPSC has been notified of the following cases;

·        An additional 629 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 reported by Irish laboratories

·        An additional 95 confirmed cases of COVID-19 reported by a laboratory in Germany

With the latest figures from Germany included, there are now a total of 13,271 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 14th April (12,425 cases), reveals:

·        55% are female and 45% are male, with 425 clusters involving 2,451 cases

·        the median age of confirmed cases is 48 years

·        2,026 cases (16%) have been hospitalised

·        Of those hospitalised, 284 cases have been admitted to ICU

·        3,090 cases are associated with healthcare workers

·        Dublin has the highest number of cases at 6,337 (51% of all cases) followed by Cork with 916 cases (7%)

·        Of those for whom transmission status is known: community transmission accounts for 51%, close contact accounts for 43%, travel abroad accounts for 6%

Professor Philip Nolan, Chair of NPHET Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group, said; “Our model today is showing four reproductive numbers, illustrating the different stages of the disease in Ireland over the past 6 weeks.

“We now estimate our R0 to be between 0.7 and 1.0, which means current restrictions are successfully suppressing the disease.”

Dr. Tony Holohan, Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health, said: “The data clearly shows that there are two very different experiences of COVID-19 in Ireland today. In the population at large, the virus is contained and effectively suppressed.

“However, the experience of the disease in long-term residential care settings continues to be a source of concern.

“In order to protect the vulnerable the first task was to suppress the virus in the population at large. We are increasingly confident that we are achieving this. All of our efforts now need to be on extinguishing COVID-19 in our community residential settings, including nursing homes.”

Covid Late Late:

The Chief Medical Officer Tony Holohan will join Ryan Tubridy on the Late Late Show tomorrow.

Rugby star Paul O'Connell will discuss home-schooling his children, and actor Colm Meaney will talk about being away from home during the crisis.

Comedian Ricky Gervais will discuss the restrictions and how America is responding to the crisis, while Samantha Power, former adviser to Barack Obama, will chat to Ryan from her home in the US about her experience of the pandemic.

Singer-songwriter Danny O'Reilly of The Coronas will be in studio for a special solo performance.

Global Figures:

A further 10,000 people across the globe are known to have died in the past 24 hours, after contracting Covid-19. 

138,000 fatalities have been reported since the outbreak first began, with Europe recording nearly a million confirmed cases.

Coronavirus has killed more than 90,000 people in Europe, out of the 138,000 who've lost their lives across the globe. 

In Spain, after five weeks of lockdown, the death toll has reached over 19,000, with another 551 people dying in the past 24 hours. 

Closer to home, another 861 people have died in UK hospitals.

The total stands at more than 13-thousand 700, with 100,000 confirmed cases. 

Northern Ireland has reported its highest daily rise in deaths – up 18- to bring total deaths to 158.

The US has 640,000 confirmed cases, and close to 31,000 fatalities and is the country worst hit by the pandemic.  

Northern Ireland:

There have been another 18 deaths in Northern Ireland due to the coronavirus.

That's the highest daily total so far and brings the death toll to 158 people in the North.

Another 113 people tested positive for the virus and there are now 2,201 confirmed cases there.

WHO:

The World Health Organisation is concerned that lockdowns may be leading to violence in some countries. 

Director-general Tedros Ghebreyesus says he's worried about the spike in domestic abuse, due to stay-at-home measures. 

He's calling on all countries to prioritise the issue, as the total number of Covid-19 cases in the world reaches 2.1 million. 

Dr Mike Ryan, from the WHO, says restrictions have an impact on people's mental health:

Offaly Councillor Hits Out At Over 150 People Who Attended Funeral https://t.co/2sbRqC7ELz

— Midlands103 (@Midlands103) April 16, 2020

EU:

A number of European countries are beginning to lift restrictions imposed during the pandemic.

Denmark allowed schools and day centres to open again on Wednesday, while Austria has allowed many businesses to resume trading.

Italy, which has experienced one of the worst outbreaks of the pandemic, has also started to reopen some bookshops.

Speaking in the European Parliament this morning, European Commission President Ursula Von Der Leyen says the continent needs a 'marshall plan' to restart the economy:

Spain:

Another 551 people have died in Spain after testing positive for coronavirus.

It takes the total number of deaths in the country to over 19 thousand.

Over 180 thousand people have now been diagnosed with Covid-19 there. 

Farmers:

The European Commission's announced new measures to increase the cash flow of farmers and reduce administration surrounding payments.

Advances of direct payments are being increased from 50% to 70% and rural development payments from 75% to 85%.

Farmers will start receiving these advances from mid-October, however member states will be able to pay farmers before finalising all on-the-spot checks. 

In addition, the number of physical on-the-spot eligibility checks in relation to parts of the CAP budget are being reduced to minimise physical contact between farmers and inspectors.

Face masks:

There are calls for wearing masks to be mandatory in Ireland to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

A new study suggests that the virus can be spread through speaking and not just by coughs and sneezes as was previously believed.

This study by the New England Journal of Medicine shows that Covid-19 can been detected in aerosols that are released when we speak.

Professor of Immunology at Trinity College Dublin, Luke O’Neill, says the research proves that everyone should be wearing a mask.

However Dr. Cillian De Gascun, of the National Virus Reference Laboratory says masks can be more of a hindrance than a help:

It comes as New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has ordered people to wear masks in public.

Limerick Man, Michael Dowling is President and CEO of Northwell Health, A Major Health company in New York:

Germany is also recommending people wear masks in public places while it has been mandatory in some countries including the Czech republic since the outbreak began.

County breakdowns:

I was stopped by @GardaTraffic this morning on Leeson street on way into @DeptAHG. When you see the concentration of #COVID19 cases in Dublin how can anyone not welcome this? pic.twitter.com/4lzOK4W9uz

— ⚖️Josepha ⚡️STAY HOME⚡️Madigan (@josephamadigan) April 16, 2020

Urgent issues:

There are urgent issues that need to be addressed before we can even think about lifting the Covid-19 restrictions, according to an infectious diseases expert.

The death toll from the virus now stands at 444, while it's been confirmed two healthcare staff, who worked at St Luke's Hospital in Kilkenny, have died after contracting the virus.

Professor Jack Lambert says clusters among the likes of the homeless, students and drug users need to be identified and a strategy to deal with them put in place.

He says adequate hygiene facilities for the public are also needed;

EU supports:

A major medical support package and the easing of lending and borrowing rules are among the measures MEPs will vote on over the next two days to address the economic and healthcare emergency from Covid-19.

The European Parliament's meeting remotely to consider several resolutions and map out a future post-outbreak.

It comes as the EU faces criticism over its efforts to help member states address the crisis.

Fine Gael MEP for Ireland South, Sean Kelly, says it's likely the new measures will be approved:

Vaccine and US funding:

The head of the World Health Organisation says three vaccines for Covid-19 have started clinical trials and 70 more are in the planning stage.

Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus says the WHO is also reviewing the impact of the US withdrawing funding for the organisation of up to 400 million dollars a year.

He also defended the WHO, saying it's at the epicentre of the fight against coronavirus:

Relaxing testing criteria:

The Chief Medical Officer says the criteria for testing of Covid-19 will likely be relaxed next week.

It comes as the numbers presenting at test centres has fallen significantly in recent days.

Only those with underlying conditions and who're displaying symptoms are currently eligible for a test.

It comes as the death toll from the virus has risen by 38 to 444 while total cases now stands at 12,547. 

There's now 526 confirmed cases in the Midlands. 

Westmeath has the highest with 258, an increase of 28 from yesterday, Offaly has 150, a rise of 6 while the number of confirmed cases in Laois is up by 17 to 118. 

Dr. Tony Holohan says if there's to be any easing of restrictions, it's important the case definition is expanded so more people are tested: