Coronavirus: Republic reports 95 further cases and no deaths

A further 95 Covid-19 cases have been reported in the State, and no further deaths, the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) has said.

There is now a total of 29,206 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the Republic and 1,777 Covid-19-related deaths.

There has not been a death recorded from Covid-19 in the State since August 22nd. Wednesday’s recording of another death was from June.

Of the cases announced on Thursday, 51 were in Dublin; six in Kildare; six in Meath and the remaining 32 cases were in Carlow, Clare, Cork, Kerry, Kilkenny, Laois, Limerick, Longford, Louth, Mayo, Offaly, Tipperary, Waterford, Westmeath, Wexford and Wicklow.

Government to unveil new Covid-19 plan, ‘more important than budget’, on September 14th

---

Income tax not to increase in next budget, says Donohoe

---

Covid-19: Up to one-quarter of people sent for tests fail to turn up, says HSE

---

Covid-19: Roma community sees 22 positive tests in one outbreak

---

A total of 47 per cent were confirmed to be associated with outbreaks or were close contacts of a confirmed case and 16 cases were identified as community transmission.

There are currently 40 people in hospital with Covid-19 related symptoms and seven in intensive care units.

The five-day average for cases is 99.2 and the seven-day average is 109.29, slightly down on the previous seven-day average of 113.14 cases.

Acting chief medical officer Dr Ronan Glynn reiterated his message that the virus has not changed and neither have the basic measures that keep us all protected.

“It is these basic measures that are most important to keep Covid-19 under control. Remember to wash your hands regularly for 20 seconds, to know the safe way to wear a face covering, avoid touching your face, cough into your elbow, reduce your social contacts and keep a physical distance of two metres at the top of your mind when you do meet others.”

Covid-19 plan

A new medium-term Government plan to deal with Covid-19 will be introduced on September 14th, Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan has confirmed in the Dáil.

The Green Party leader said the plan is “as important as if not more important to my mind than the budget”.

It will include international travel and the Minister said they were looking at testing arrangements that “may allow us to waive the requirement for 14 days restriction on travel” when someone comes into the State.

He said they had to prepare for the next six, 12, 18 months of the pandemic as he defended the Government’s approach to coronavirus testing and tracing, amid concerns for the growing number of cases of the disease.

Mr Ryan was defending against accusations by Social Democrats joint leader Róisín Shortall that the Government “took your eye off the ball” on Covid-19 where the public was forgoing so much of “normal life” and the business community was “paying an enormous price”.

Claiming there were a lot of “internal tensions” within Government she said Fine Gael was “dithering” on its decision about nominating an European Commissioner and she accused Tánaiste Leo Varadkar of “playing a very dangerous political game within Government”.

But she said the reality is that the number of Covid-19 cases continued to grow.

“However, this is still a substantial number of cases and I urge everyone to double down on their efforts now – wash hands regularly, physically distance from others, wear face coverings where appropriate, avoid crowded areas, know the symptoms, isolate and contact your GP if you have any concerns.”

Northern Ireland

Earlier, the North's Department of Health in its daily bulletin reported one more death from coronavirus, taking the official death toll to 563.

The department also reported 77 new cases of Covid-19, bringing its total of confirmed cases to 7,442. So far 242,434 people have been tested for the virus in Northern Ireland.

The latest update from the Northern Ireland Statistical and Research Agency (Nisra) revealed that the total number of Covid-19 related deaths in the region to August 21st was 871. Nisra bases its total off information on death certificates while the department records fatalities where there has been a positive Covid-19 test.

Meanwhile, the PSNI has confirmed that a man in Co Fermanagh was fined £1,000 for failing to quarantine on returning from a holiday in Spain. This was the first such fine issued in Northern Ireland.

The man, who later tested positive for coronavirus, was due to have been self-isolating for two weeks after returning from the Balearic Islands. He was fined after, it is understood, he went out socialising in Enniskillen at the weekend.

PSNI Assistant Chief Constable Alan Todd confirmed that the £1,000 fine was issued on Tuesday. He explained that implementing the travel rules was a matter for the UK Border Force and that police had acted on its recommendation to take action.

"Everyone needs to continue to follow the government's guidance to help suppress the transmission of the virus and support our NHS, " he said.

“It is encouraging to see that to date there has been a high level of compliance since the introduction of the mandatory quarantine on travellers coming into Northern Ireland from restricted countries and I hope that continues,” added Mr Todd.

He said that “as always, our approach remains to engage, explain and encourage, and only where necessary enforce”.

PSNI chief constable Simon Byrne told the North's Policing Board on Thursday that the fine demonstrated that the rules were being enforced.