Covid-19: One further death and 25 new cases in Republic

One more person diagnosed with Covid-19 in the Republic has died, the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) has confirmed this afternoon.

There have now been a total 1,679 coronavirus-related deaths in the State.

As of midnight on Saturday June 6th, the HPSC had been notified of 25 confirmed cases of Covid-19, meaning there was now a total of 25,201 confirmed cases.

A breakdown of data which is up to date as of midnight on Friday 5th, relating to 25,176 cases, reveals 57 per cent of cases involve women and 43 per cent male. The median age of confirmed cases is 48.

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Nine more deaths from Covid-19 recorded in Ireland along with 24 new cases

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A total of 3,321 cases, or 13 per cent, have been hospitalised. Of those, 409 have been admitted to ICU. A total of 8,057 cases were associated with healthcare workers.

Dublin has the highest number of cases at 12,139 (48 per cent of all cases), followed by Cork with 1,529 cases and Kildare with 1,428.

Of those for whom transmission status is known, community transition accounts for 39 per cent, close contact accounts for 59 per cent and travel abroad accounts for 2 per cent.

Earlier, HSE figures showed the number of coronavirus-infected people being admitted to hospital has continued to decline, but the number of close contacts of infected cases has risen over the past week.

There were 124 confirmed Covid-19 cases across the country’s 29 acute hospitals on Saturday night at 8pm, down from 182 a week earlier and 618 a month ago. There were a further 188 suspected cases, the same number as a week earlier but down from 376 a month earlier.

The number of infected patients in intensive care units fell to 36, a reduction of one on the previous day, while there were five suspected Covid-19 cases in ICU, down from 10 a day earlier.

There were two new confirmed Covid-19 cases admitted to hospital in the 24-hour period to Saturday evening, down from six a day earlier, 16 the previous week and 27 a month earlier.

The Mater hospital in Dublin had the largest number of confirmed Covid-19 patients at 31, followed by Tallaght Hospital with 19 and University Hospital Limerick with 11.

The Mater had the highest number of infected patients in ICU with eight, followed by St James’s Hospital with six, Beaumont in Dublin with five and Tallaght with four.

There were 21 confirmed Covid-19 patients and a further three suspected patients on ventilators on Saturday night, down from 23 and six respectively the previous night.

The HSE figures on contact tracing – the identification of people who had contact with Covid-19 cases – shows the average number of close contacts rose above four twice in the first week of June.

The average number of close contacts had remained at or below three for the second half of April and much of May before rising late last month and reaching close to five over the past week.

The rise in the number of close contacts coincides with the period after the first phase of lockdown restrictions being lifted on May 18th and ahead of the second phase beginning tomorrow.

The average amount of time it took State officials to take a swab and obtain a test result over the past seven days fell to 1.3 days on Saturday, the same amount it was taking the previous week.