28 new cases of Covid-19 in Meath

Twenty eight new cases of Covid-19 were reported in Meath today as public health officials confirmed a further 1,062 new cases of Covid-19 in Ireland.

A further 10 more people have died with the virus. All the deaths occurred in January.

The 10 people who died were aged between 45 and 101, with a median age of 79.

Today's announcement brings the total number of cases to 197,553 and the number of people who have died to 3,317.

Of today’s cases:

506 are men and 546 are women

57% are under 45 years of age

The median age is 41 years old

335 were in Dublin, 137 in Cork, 73 in Wexford, 58 in Galway,54 in Kildare and the remaining 405 cases are spread across all other counties.

At 2pm today, there were 1,436 Covid-19 patients in hospital, with 207 in ICU and 38 additional hospitalisations in the last 24 hours.

Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan said that “while we have experienced very significant improvement in incidence over recent weeks, I am concerned that it appears to be slowing down at much too high a level of infection”.

“People need to take real care in any setting in which they come into contact with others,” Dr Holohan said.

“In particular, workplaces and retail settings need to review their existing protocols and ensure that their staff and customers are protected as much as possible,” he said.