5 October 2020
By Mary Bermingham
mary@TheCork.ie
Taoiseach Micheál Martin at Government Buildings in Dublin during his address to the nation. Credit: Julian Behal Photography
The Taoiseach has announced that the whole country will move to Level 3 and there will be measures to increase compliance of the restrictions. Micheál Martin spoke at Government Buildings tonight after Cabinet rejected a recommendation from the National Public Health Emergency Team to move to Level 5.
Today’s stats
Newly reported deaths
There have been no new deaths reported to the Health Protection Surveillance Centre today. There has been a total of 1,810 COVID-19 related deaths in Ireland.
Newly reported cases
As of midnight Sunday 4th October the HPSC has been notified of 518 confirmed cases of COVID-19. There is now a total of 38,549* confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ireland.
Of the cases notified today;
252 are men / 266 are women
68% are under 45 years of age
30% are confirmed to be associated with outbreaks or are close contacts of a confirmed case
78 cases have been identified as community transmission
134 in Dublin, 53 in Cork, 49 in Limerick, 34 in Donegal, 32 in Meath and the remaining 216 cases are spread across 20 counties.
Comments from health officials
Back for his first day after personal leave; Dr. Tony Holohan, Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health, said;
“We have seen in recent days a significant and concerning deterioration in the epidemiological situation nationally.
“It is vital that we do everything in our power now to arrest the current trajectory nationally and very substantially suppress the virus back down to a low level of transmission in advance of the winter months.
“Do not become distracted from the core public health messages; wash hands regularly, keep your distance, wear face coverings where appropriate, avoid crowded environments, cut your social contacts down to minimum levels, know the symptoms and isolate yourself and contact your GP immediately if you experience them.”
Dr. Tony Holohan, Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health
Meanwhile, Dr. Ronan Glynn, Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health, said;
“Our core priorities have to be protected. We must work together to keep our non-covid health services open, keep our children in education and protect the lives of the most vulnerable to this disease. Solidarity is now more important than ever as we work to once again suppress this virus in our communities.”
Dr. Ronan Glynn, Deputy Chief Medical Officer
