For the second day in a row no deaths associated with COVID-19 have been recorded while Co Clare is now 25 days without an additional case.
In what is the first time since the middle of March, no new deaths have been recorded for two days in succession. In total, 1,741 people have died in the Republic of Ireland as a result of COVID-19. Acting Chief Medical Officer, Dr Ronan Glynn highlighted that the trend of deaths was continuing to decrease and expressed his hope this would continue.
Co Clare is now 25 days without an additional case of COVID-19. Detail for Saturday (July 4th) has confirmed that no new individuals in the county have been diagnosed with the virus. To date, 368 cases have been confirmed for Co Clare, the majority of whom have since recovered.
Clare 368 (0)
Kilkenny 356 (0)
Roscommon 346 (0)
Kerry 310 (0)
Longford 287 (+1)
Laois 265 (0)
Wexford 218 (+1)
Carlow 175 (0)
Waterford 158 (0)
Sligo 145 (+4)
Leitrim 82 (0) #COVID19 no additional cases in 17/26 counties.— Páraic McMahon (@thepmanofficial) July 6, 2020
Officials within the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) have been notified of a further four cases bringing to 25,531 the amount of persons to have tested positive for the virus in the past four months. 15% of the 141 new cases reported in the past two weeks were associated with travel.
Glynn outlined, “Between mid-May to the end of June, 35% of those identified as a close contact of a confirmed case did not take up the offer of a test. Every case has the potential to turn into a cluster, which in turn has the potential to spread through a community. If you are identified as a close contact, please take up the offer of a test without delay.”
Research conducted on behalf of the Department of Health has noted a higher level of overall worry among the population and a continued increase in the proportion of the population anticipating a second wave. The nationally representative sample of 2,004 people conducted on Monday revealed that 74% believe there will be a second wave, up 20% in the past month. 41% of the population now believe that the worst of the pandemic is behind us and one in three (32%) believe it is ahead of us.
Dr Glynn has confirmed that no new cases were recorded in vulnerable groups or work place settings in the past week as of Saturday.
Images from the weekend whereby individuals were gathering in large groups around pubs and city centres led Dr Glynn to say he was “very concerned”. He acknowledged that the vast majority of the public have adhered to guidelines and maintained that the current requests were “more straight forward” by asking individuals to follow public health advice, physically distance and not enter environments where they will put themselves or others at risk. He warned that the country could return to previous levels of cases and restrictions if large gatherings were to continue.
