COVID-19 LATEST: 27 new cases of coronavirus confirmed
Health authorities have confirmed 27 new cases of coronavirus – by far the biggest daily jump in numbers since the beginning of the pandemic.
It brings to 70 the total number of cases in the Republic.
The massive increase underlines the Government’s decision to impose a wide range of restrictions on schools and social gatherings earlier today.
Some 22 of the 27 new cases are associated with local transmission, two are associated with community transmission and three are associated with travel.
Three of the new cases are in intensive care, bringing the total number of patients currently in intensive care to six.
Ireland’s top doctor Dr Tony Holohan, Chief Medical Officer in the Department of Health, said Ireland is now in the “delay phase”, which was designed to interrupt the transmission of the Covid-19 virus, by advising reductions on social interactions.
In an unprecedented annoucement, the Government earlier confirmed that schools, colleges and other public facilities would close in the Republic for at least two weeks in response to the spread of the virus.
It also urged people not to engage in panic buying as reports emerged of long queues in supermarkets.
