*Photograph: John Mangan
81.7% of Ireland’s COVID-19 cases from Sunday had recovered it has emerged while no new cases have been recorded in Co Clare.
On Wednesday, the Health Protection Surveillance Centre were informed of an additional 11 deaths and 64 new cases. So far, 1,571 people have died from the virus in the Republic of Ireland, one case has been de-notified by the HPSC. 24,315 individuals have received a positive diagnosis when tested for Coronavirus.
In Clare, for the second day in a row there has been no increase in confirmed cases across the county. 315 persons are confirmed cases while no detail has been provided on the amount of these that have recovered within the county.
Galway 445 (+7)
Clare 315 (0)
Kerry 308 (0)
Roscommon 308 (+1)
Kilkenny 307 (+5)
Longford 279 (0)
Laois 254 (0)
Wexford 217 (+5)
Carlow 149 (+1)
Waterford 148 (+1)
Sligo 129 (0)
Leitrim 82 (+2)#Covid_19 11/26 counties with no new case.— Páraic McMahon (@thepmanofficial) May 20, 2020
Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Dr Ronan Glynn confirmed that from Sunday’s 24,112 cases, 19,224 (79.5%) had recovered in the community and 1,836 (7.6%) had been discharged from hospitals marking a total of 21,060 (87.1%).
Of the 1,571 people that have died in Ireland, 650 were hospitalised, 76 were admitted to ICU, 786 were female and 785 were male. 54% of the total deaths were of nursing home residents.
53 persons remain in ICU with one additional patient in the last day, a total of 393 admissions have been recorded.
An increase of 28 cases in long-term residential care settings have been recorded bringing the figure to 6,276. As it stands, there are 4,872 in nursing homes across the country.
Chief Medical Officer, Dr Tony Holohan will return to work tomorrow, Dr Glynn confirmed at Wednesday’s press briefing. Holohan was scheduled to attend the gathering which was suddenly delayed by an hour. No reason for his absence was provided. The next meeting of the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) takes place on Friday morning, yesterday’s meeting did not proceed due to Holohan having to appear before a two hour sitting of the Dáil’s COVID-19 committee.
Dr Glynn clarified that in an instance where there is a confirmed case in a workplace where someone has been in the room for two hours or more, public health doctors will have to carry out a risk assessment. “It is not the same as saying every business or organisation can’t have people in the same room for more than two hours”. He said meetings of any size should be limited and urged people who could work from home to do so.
