COVID CLAIMS TEN IN A SINGLE DAY

Fatalities hit 19, but worse yet to come

CORONAVIRUS deaths have more than doubled in a single day, the Department of Health has confirmed.

It announced a further 10 deaths last night – seven men and three women.

This means that 19 people, with a median age of 79, have now died in the Republic and a further 10 have died in Northern Ireland. Of those who have died in the Republic, 68% were men and 32% were women.

With an additional 255 cases confirmed yesterday, there are now 1,819 positive cases in the Republic and over 2,000 cases on the entire island. Healthcare workers are a significant percentage of those who’ve caught the disease.

Dr Tony Holohan, Chief Medical Officer at the Department of Health, said the country is in the early stages and will continue to see deaths increase.

‘I still believe we are at an early stage in terms of our experience of this infection and of the global pandemic that we are now faced with,’ he said. ‘It is one which is different to pandemics that we’ve experienced before. The mortality that we expect to be associated with this is higher than we’d expect to see with seasonal flu.

‘In most developed countries in the world we expect to be somewhere in the region of about 1%. That is roughly the kind of figure that we are seeing at the moment. If the number of cases continue to increase, the number of deaths, sadly, will continue to increase in line with that,’ he said.

Dr Holohan said there are some issues that are giving his department concern, such as the intensive care admissions, the number of cases overall, the rate of community transmission and the numbers of cases involving healthcare workers – one of the big concerns is outbreaks of the disease in healthcare settings.

‘Visiting healthcare facilities, whether they are hospitals or whether they are nursing homes, or visiting other places where there are vulnerable populations, not in the healthcare arena – these are not places that are appropriate for visiting at this time. The risks to people in some of those locations, of bringing infection into those environments, is very significant,’ he said.

‘I think it is important, to care for your loved one by staying away at this time.’

Deputy Chief Medical Officer at the Department of Health Dr Ronan Glynn said: ‘We are aware Covid-19 is impacting and reshaping daily life for everyone. We can see from the data that people are most concerned about their family and friends. If you look after yourself, restrict movement and follow advice, you will ultimately protect them.’

Speaking last night, Health Minister Simon Harris said that he was ‘saddened deeply’ about the ten new deaths in the country.

‘Our thoughts are with all of those families, it is such a sad time. It really puts into sharp focus the need that we do everything we possibly can as a country to slow down the spread of this virus, to keep people safe and well and, crucially, not spread it. I think we all have to effectively act like we have the virus.’

Over 416,000 people worldwide have now been diagnosed with the virus resulting in over 18,500 deaths.

The death toll in Italy rose by another 721 yesterday bringing the total number of fatalities there to over 8,200.

‘I believe we are at an early stage’