Daily deaths fall to four, the lowest in eight weeks

IRELAND has recorded its lowest daily coronavirus death toll in almost eight weeks.

The four fatalities announced yesterday came as Ireland began the first phase of its lockdown exit plan. The country’s Covid-19 death toll now stands at 1,547. While cautioning of the potential for under-reporting at the weekend, Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan said the drop in fatalities was a sign of progress in suppressing the virus. Passing condolences to all the families involved, he said two of the deaths happened over the weekend, with the other two occurring in April.

‘On the first day of Ireland moving into Phase One of reopening we have experienced the lowest number of deaths since March 27,’ he said. ‘We have suppressed the virus and limited its impact on public health. We need to sustain this in the weeks and phases ahead.’

Dr Holohan said he was ‘hopeful’ Ireland would be in a position to move to Phase Two of the lockdown exit plan on schedule in three weeks’ time, but stressed it was ‘too early’ to make firm predictions. There were 88 additional cases of Covid-19 confirmed yesterday – the third day in a row the tally has been below 100.

The total number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Ireland since the outbreak began now stands at 24,200.

As part of Phase One guidelines, people are now able to meet in groups of four in outdoor locations, as long as social distancing is observed.

HSE figures show the virus’s prevalence continues on a downward trajectory.

On Monday there were 51 Covid-19 patients in intensive care units, down by around 70% from the peak in mid-April when around 160 people were receiving ICU treatment. The overall coronavirus hospital admission rate is down by a similar scale.

Around 4,000 tests are currently being completed each day in Ireland and, of those, around 98% are testing negative. The 2% positivity rate is down from 25% in mid-April.

According to the National Public Health Emergency Team’s latest survey, 46% of people now believe the worst of the crisis is behind us – although Dr Holohan said he and the rest of NPHET don’t believe this to be the case. He added that the high-percentage response gives them ‘cause for concern’.

Survey response a ‘cause for concern’