Chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan has said that coronavirus has become a more “household disease” which families are exposed to at home, rather than in the wider community.
Dr Holohan told a briefing that the contact type here was more limited to within households than communities.
He added that while the discovery is encouraging, the number of people that individuals come in to contact with needs to fall further.
“If each person on average is to infect another three people then this infection is going to continue to grow,” Dr Holohan said.
“That’s why we made the recommendations that an individual case self-isolate for 14 days, and the contacts in that household to restrict their movements.
“We think it’s important for people within the household to try to take measures that prevent them from passing this infection on from one to the other.
“So those are some of the measures that we will track.”
- The latest restrictions in operation since Friday, March 27 mandate that everyone should stay at home, only leaving to:
- Shop for essential food and household goods;
- Attend medical appointments, collect medicine or other health products;
- Care for children, older people or other vulnerable people - this excludes social family visits;
- Exercise outdoors - within 2kms of your home and only with members of your own household, keeping 2 metres distance between you and other people
- Travel to work if you provide an essential service - be sure to practice social distancing
It comes as authorities in the country said there has been another 402 cases of coronavirus confirmed in the country in the past day, bringing the total number to 3,849.
A further 13 patients with COVID-19 died in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of deaths to 98.
Of the 148 total cases admitted to intensive care units, 25 have been discharged.
Dr Holohan added: “Sadly there have been 14 deaths from ICU and 109 remain in ICU. The median age of ICU admission is 62.”
The median age of those who had died with COVID-19 in the Republic was 92.
“We had reports of 160 clusters of varying sizes involving 659 cases in total. Just over 25% are reported as healthcare workers,” he said.
Earlier this week Dr Holohan was admitted to hospital for tests unrelated to COVID-19.
He described seeing a “worrying scene” in which there was empty waiting rooms and empty beds.
He added: “While protecting yourself from COVID-19 is a priority, no one should ignore signs that they may need medical attention for other ailments such as lumps, chest pain or other concerns.
“Please do not ignore any symptom outside of COVID-19. The hospitals are there for all ailments, not just COVID-19.”
Dr Holohan also said he “wouldn’t be surprised” if the lockdown restrictions the Government put in place last week will continue beyond April 12.
“We’re very conscious of the scale of impact that this is having on society and the ask we have made,” he added.
“Whether it’s in terms of people in the education system, in the workplace, in society generally and each of us in our day-to-day family lives – the ask of the population is very significant so it weighs heavily on us.
“We don’t come to the government asking for measures like those that we had to come and ask for on three occasions so far without giving very significant consideration to that.
“This is unprecedented territory in terms of the arrangement that we now have in place in society.”
Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels
