18 additional deaths related to Covid-19

The Health Protection Surveillance Centre has today been notified of 18 additional deaths related to Covid-19. Of the deaths reported today, one death occurred in October, 15 deaths in November and two are under investigation.

There has been a total of 2,069 Covid-19 related deaths in Ireland.

As of midnight Monday 30th November, the HPSC has been notified of 269 confirmed cases of Covid-19. There has now been a total of 72,798 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Ireland.

Of the cases notified today:

133 are men and 133 are women

65% are under 45 years of age, while the median age is 35 years old

There were just six cases reported in Meath while there was 73 in Dublin, 20 in Kilkenny, 20 in Limerick, 19 in Louth, 19 in Tipperary and the remaining 118 cases are spread across 20 other counties including Meath.

As of 2pm today, 224 Covid-19 patients are hospitalised, of which 31 are in ICU. There have been 14 additional hospitalisations in the past 24 hours.

Dr. Tony Holohan, Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health, said:

"The hard work and sacrifices that have been made by people over the last 6 weeks to suppress COVID-19 means that we are now in a position to reopen non-essential retail and to travel within our counties.

"It is up to every person, individually, to remain vigilant to the spread of this disease, to assess the risk that is involved in any social activity. We need to keep the public health advice at the centre of our minds and do not have visitors to our homes, outside of any necessary visitors in a support bubble, until the 18th of December.

"Each one of us has a role in shaping the national picture on Covid-19 in the coming weeks. It is vital that you keep hand washing, wear face coverings and keep a 2m distance from each other, to protect public health, to protect vital public services and to give us the best chance to continue to minimise the spread of the disease."