Coronavirus: No further deaths and 14 new cases reported

There were no further deaths related to Covid-19 and 14 new cases reported in the State on Wednesday.

The number of deaths in the State stands at 1,764 and the number of confirmed cases 25,942, the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) said.

Dr Ronan Glynn, Acting Chief Medical Officer at the Department of Health, said "11 of today's cases were close contacts of confirmed cases and half of these had no symptoms.

“If you are concerned that you have been in contact with a confirmed case please come forward for testing. Do not wait for symptoms to emerge.”

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He said: "There are now eight confirmed cases of Covid-19 in our hospital system, the lowest number since early March. However, across Europe the pandemic appears to be accelerating once again. We have an opportunity to avoid a similar scenario here.

“We must take it by focusing once again on keeping our distance, washing our hands, wearing face coverings and continuing to make safe decisions that will protect ourselves, our friends, our families. No one is safe unless everyone is safe.”

New guidance came into effect on Wednesday which means nursing homes and other residential care settings will no longer have to restrict the number of nominated visitors for residents.

Children will also now be allowed to visit in some cases but hugs and other physical contact are still to be avoided.

The Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) guidelines, which apply to acute mental health facilities and community housing units for people with disabilities as well as nursing homes, say the duration of the visits may be limited to an hour with some flexibility on compassionate grounds in exceptional circumstances.

In Northern Ireland, no coronavirus-related deaths were recorded on Wednesday, the 16th consecutive day without such a fatality.

The death toll in the North stands at 556.

On Wednesday afternoon, Northern Ireland’s department of health reported nine new cases of Covid-19, taking the number of confirmed cases in the North to 5,930. So far, 139,797 people have been tested for the virus.

The North's health minister Robin Swann has told Stormont Assembly members that a new smartphone app designed to combat the spread of coronavirus is to be launched "imminently" in the region.

The proximity app will anonymously alert users if they have been in close contact with another user who has tested positive for the virus.

Mr Swann said the "Stop Covid NI App" was aimed at helping to break transmission of the virus. The date it went live would be subject to a review process undertaken by the Apple App Store and Google Play.

Encouraging widespread use of the app, Mr Swann said: “If we can get sufficient numbers to download it, it will play an important part in augmenting the existing contact-tracing processes in our efforts to stop the spread of Covid-19.”

Mr Swann said the app would be “interoperable” with the equivalent app in the Republic, and was “highly likely” to be compatible with apps due to be introduced in Britain and Europe.

“This will be the first instance of such a solution worldwide and will be the first example of such apps operating in an interoperable manner,” he told the Assembly on Tuesday.