Sixty new cases of Covid-19 have been detected in Donegal, the Department of Health reports.
This is the highest daily increase recorded in the county since the pandemic began.
There are 611 new cases of the virus nationwide and five more people have died of Covid-19 related illness.
Of the cases detected on Tuesday, 218 are in Dublin, 63 in Cork, 60 in Donegal, 35 in Galway, 31 in Kildare and the remaining 204 are located across 21 counties.
The number of Covid-19 cases has increased by 497 in the past two weeks in Donegal.
Today marks the first Department of Health press briefing headed up by Dr Tony Holohan since his return as Chief Medical Officer.
Dr Holohan commented: “All key indicators of the disease have deteriorated further in the three days since the last meeting of NPHET on Sunday 4th October. COVID-19 is spreading in our community in a very worrying manner. We have to break these chains of transmission.”
“80 COVID-19 cases were hospitalised in August, 206 in September and 77 so far in October.
“In August, 4 COVID-19 related deaths in total were reported, 34 in September and today on the 7th of October we report 8 COVID-19 related deaths this month.”
Dr. Ronan Glynn, Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health, said; “Trends in case numbers and incidence are now being reflected in indicators of disease severity. The number of people in hospital has increased from 122 last Thursday to 156 this afternoon. There are currently 25 people in critical care compared to 20 one week ago.”
Professor Philip Nolan, Chair of the NPHET Irish Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group, said “Case numbers and hospitalisations are growing exponentially. The Reproductive number is now estimated at 1.2. If we fail to reduce viral transmission nationwide immediately, we could see 1,100 – 1,500 cases per day and 300-450 people in hospital by November 7th.”
