A further 217 Covid-19 cases reported in the highest daily figure since May

A further 217 Covid-19 cases have been reported in the State, and no further deaths, the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) has confirmed.

The number of cases recorded on Tuesday is the highest daily reported figure since May, according to acting chief medical officer Dr Ronan Glynn.

There is now a total of 29,025 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Ireland. Validation of data resulted in the denotification of three cases, and the figure of 29,025 cases reflects this.

There has been a total of 1,777 Covid-19-related deaths in Ireland.

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There are 103 cases in Dublin; 25 in Kildare; 17 in Limerick; 17 in Tipperary; seven in Waterford; seven in Wicklow, six in Clare, five in Louth and the remaining 30 are located in Carlow, Cavan, Cork, Donegal, Galway, Kilkenny, Meath, Monaghan, Offaly, Roscommon, Westmeath and Wexford.

Dr Glynn said the five-day moving average remained relatively stable at 115 cases per day.

“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.”

Of the 217 people confirmed on Tuesday to have coronavirus, 103 are men and 113 are women, while 70 per cent are under 45 years of age.

A total of 51 per cent are confirmed to be associated with outbreaks or are close contacts of a confirmed case, while 19 cases have been identified as community transmission.

The North’s Department of Health (DoH) reported 49 new cases of Covid-19 on Tuesday, bringing the total number of cases identified in Northern Ireland since the start of the pandemic to 7,294.

No further deaths were reported, leaving the number of coronavirus-related fatalities recorded by the Department at 560.

The greatest number of cases in the last seven days was in Belfast, where 140 cases were identified, followed by 93 in the Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon council area.

Earlier, the chairman of NPHET’s Irish Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group defended regional restrictions on movement, saying they are an important line of defence against Covid-19.

With 30.6 cases per 100,000 population over the last fortnight, the incidence of the disease in Ireland is up to 12 times higher than it was two months ago, according to figures from the European Centre for Disease Control.

Businesses in Co Kildare welcomed the Government’s decision to lift restrictions imposed on the county last month following a steep rise in cases, initially linked to outbreaks in local meat processing plants.

“You couldn’t draw a radius around a meat factory and say all the cases are here,” Prof Glynn told RTÉ’s radio’s Morning Ireland. Often county boundaries were the right boundaries to use for a local lockdown in order to ensure the virus did not spread widely in the community, he said.

A regional lockdown was “the third or fourth thing one does” added Prof Nolan. It was entirely possible that there would be clusters that didn’t keep within a county. “You can’t expect what the geography will be.”

Class in isolation

A primary school class in south Armagh has been advised to self-isolate for 14 days after a pupil tested positive for coronavirus.

Jonesborough Primary School informed parents in a letter on Monday that a pupil in the Primary 2/3 class had Covid-19.

The school said details had been passed on to the North’s Public Health Agency (PHA), which would make direct contact with the parents of any other children who may have been in close contact with the affected pupil.

The principal, Donal Keenan, told parents the classroom has been closed and will undergo an enhanced clean in the coming days. All other areas around the school remain unaffected.

He said ensuring safety was his “absolute priority” and he appreciated the concerns of parents, pupils and the wider community and wished to reassure them “every precaution” has been taken.

Cases in ward

It follows the confirmation last week that 10 patients in a haematology ward at Craigavon Area Hospital had tested positive for coronavirus, as well as eleven members of staff on the ward and in the hospital’s emergency department.

On Tuesday the majority of pupils in the North returned to school, following a phased return which saw some pupils back in the classroom last week.

Measures which have been put in place include social distancing and the creation of class “bubbles” to keep pupils separate, and it is “strongly recommended” that post-primary pupils and teachers should wear face coverings in corridors and communal areas.

The North’s education minister, Peter Weir, told the BBC that while the situation would be monitored closely, it was “a good day for education and for all young people that we are able to get a third of a million children back into school.”

While the priority would be to keep schools open, he said, there were “bound to be some bumps in the road” and there would be cases of coronavirus in schools.

“Undoubtedly there’s likely to be some level of interruption in terms of education, but across the board I think we want to ensure that schools remain open,” he said.

The North’s health minister, chief medical officer and chief scientific officer have all warned of the potential damage to children’s development and futures if they do not return to school.