LATEST: Kilkenny among 240 new cases of virus, six countries removed from travel ‘Green List’

One more person has died after contracting the coronavirus as 240 more cases of Covid-19 were confirmed this evening.

It brings the overall death toll as a result of the virus to 1,789. There are now 32,023 confirmed cases of Covid-19 across the country.

Kilkenny is among the counties to record new infections, according to the latest daily briefing from the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET).

The breakdown of the new cases is as follows: 119 in Dublin, 19 in Wicklow, 17 in Kildare, 16 in Donegal, 15 in Waterford, 10 in Limerick, 8 in Cork, 6 in Louth, 5 in Wexford with the remaining 24 cases are located in Carlow, Cavan, Clare, Galway, Kilkenny, Laois, Longford, Meath, Monaghan, Offaly, Tipperary, Westmeath.

The new cases of the virus were confirmed as the Government added four more countries to its ‘Green List’ of places people can can visit without having to restrict their movements when they return to Ireland.

The list has been updated to include Cyprus, Germany, Poland and Iceland. The changes will come into effect from Monday, September 21. .

Finland, Latvia, Lithuania are to remain on the green list.

However, from September 21  Italy, Hungary, Slovakia, Greece, Norway and Estonia have been removed from the list.

These countries’ security status rating has been changed to ‘avoid non-essential travel’. This means passengers arriving in Ireland from these countries will be asked to restrict their movements.

Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney said today: “The Government agreed that Ireland should broadly support the European Commission proposal for a common approach to travel within the EU/EEA, which is currently under discussion in Brussels.

“Between now and the EU signing off on a system, Ireland’s Green List will be updated on a weekly basis. The changes announced today will come into effect on Monday. People should use our travel advice to carefully consider their need to go abroad and take into account the restrictions that other countries may have on travellers from Ireland.”