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Five new cases of coronavirus confirmed in the Republic of Ireland

Yesterday health officials revealed Ireland had its first case of community transmission.

LAST UPDATE | 6 Mar 2020

HEALTH OFFICIALS HAVE confirmed that there are five new cases of the Covid-19 virus in the Republic of Ireland while officials in the North have said another case has been detected there. 

There were seven new cases confirmed yesterday and this evening’s additional cases bring the total number in the Republic to 18. Adding in the four cases in the North, it means there are now 22 cases on the island of Ireland.

The new cases in the Republic are: 

  • A man in the east who had travelled to northern Italy 
  • A woman in the west who had contact with someone with the virus 
  • A female health care worker in the south who had contact with someone with the illness
  • A man in the south who health officials said got the virus from travel. This was not travel from an affected area
  • A woman in the south whose case is associated with travel to northern Italy 

Chief medical officer Tony Holohan said that 18 is a small number of cases. He added that “the case identification process is working well” and that the disease was still “at an early stage”.

When asked about the condition of those with the illness, Holohan added that he will not “provide updates on individuals on a clinical point of view”.

He added that the National Public Health Emergency Team might now instead report once a week on the status of the illness in Ireland instead of a daily briefing.

When asked about ways to prevent getting the illness, Dr Holohan added that the HSE is not recommending the use of masks and gloves.

“It’s important to emphasise the message that [we] are not recommending the use of masks or gloves as a self-protection routine. Proper hand washing is important in this.”

Director of the HSE’s acute operations, Liam Woods, said that a pop-up testing facility in Clare was an effective way of screening people. 

He said: “It worked well. We managed to see the people who needed to be seen. [It's an] efficient way to solve the problem. We will deal with others on a needs-be basis.”

An old garda station in Clare had been turned into the testing facility. People who believed they might have the illness were seen by members of the National Ambulance Service where swabs were taken. 

The health officials added that a typically healthy person will recover from a mild form of the illness within two weeks. 

Cork University Hospital cancellations

Yesterday, the first case of community transmission was confirmed in a male patient at Cork University Hospital (CUH). This man had not recently been abroad or in contact with a confirmed case and health authorities had not established how he contracted the virus.

CUH has cancelled all outpatient appointments and restricted visitor access. It also asked some staff to self-isolate as a result of the diagnosis of this patient, who had been admitted and then discharged recently before he was readmitted and tested positive for Covid-19. 

University Hospital Limerick also seeking to trace contacts of a case, and this afternoon announced a visiting ban across its six hospital sites. 

Healthcare workers returning from high risk areas have been told not to go to work unless they are cleared by public health officials. 

Trinity College has closed a section of the campus due to a confirmed case of the coronavirus at the college. 

The HSE has been working to trace anyone who was in contact with infected individuals to ensure they receive medical attention, if required. 

- With reporting by Hayley Halpin and Pat Flynn

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    Mute Brendán O’Cuinn
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    Dec 11th 2019, 11:26 PM

    Interesting you describe Emma’s Father as a ‘Loyalist activist’ …. he’s a convicted terrorist and gun runner. Call a spade a spade

    162
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    Mute M Bowe
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    Dec 12th 2019, 1:45 AM

    @Brendán O’Cuinn: she isn’t a Sinn Fein candidate so those points are watered down.

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    Mute M Bowe
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    Dec 12th 2019, 2:03 AM

    @Brendán O’Cuinn: South African weapons supplied with full knowledge of British government into Belfast docks. One third of which went to Ulster resistance set up and run by none other that Ian Paisley snr and Peter Robinson of DUP. Weapons which have never been accounted for or decommissioned and are still a serous threat to peace on this island.

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    Mute Jesus Christ
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    Dec 11th 2019, 8:06 PM

    As the tag line for Alien vs Predator goes:

    “Whoever wins, we lose”

    85
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    Mute Badger the witness
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    Dec 11th 2019, 9:11 PM

    FG/FF canvassing for SDLP, for one reason only. Their fear/hatred of SF. Poor craters.

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    Mute Darren Tully
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    Dec 12th 2019, 11:57 AM

    @Badger the witness: have SF indicated that they’ll get off their holes go to Westminster and vote against Borris?
    No they haven’t.
    So why would you back the party that intends to sit on their hands whIle Brexit looms?

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    Mute Liam Ó hAodha
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    Dec 11th 2019, 11:49 PM

    I see Finna Fail are continuing with their abstentionist policy on fielding candidates in the 6 counties

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    Mute M Bowe
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    Dec 12th 2019, 1:48 AM

    @Liam Ó hAodha: ain’t Fianna Fáil currently an abstentionist party within the Dail as well???

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    Mute Sal Paradise
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    Dec 12th 2019, 1:58 PM

    @M Bowe: No, they take their seats in the dail.

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    Mute Moorooka Mick
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    Dec 11th 2019, 10:58 PM

    As an Irish citizen living overseas I have been dissappointed with the Journal’s coverage of the UK election; particuluarly the NI segment.

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    Mute Kenneth Finnerty
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    Dec 11th 2019, 10:10 PM

    In fairness, Michael Harding wrote a witty article about using his phone as a daily bell for mindfulness today and the comments were even more bitter.
    I’ll saw some poor divil putting up posters for Claire Hanna tonight. It takes a bit of courage to do that on a cold old night like tonight.
    My own thoughts are that Pengelly was thrown in to attract the more middle class votes in South Belfast, but I doubt it will work this time.
    What I find strange about this article is that North Belfast, East Belfast, North Down, Foyle and Fermanagh are all tight, but they only focus on this one. Id say south Belfast is the most predictable right now of all I have listed.

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    Mute Kenneth Finnerty
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    Dec 11th 2019, 10:13 PM

    @Kenneth Finnerty: Just realized how funny my typo is, I’ll saw some poor divil.

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    Mute Kenneth Finnerty
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    Dec 13th 2019, 10:31 PM

    @Kenneth Finnerty: Well I called that one pretty straight!

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    Mute trebloc01
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    Dec 12th 2019, 7:53 AM

    Just vote for anyone who will go into Parliament to represent and vote for your interest

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    Mute Micheal S. O' Ceilleachair
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    Dec 12th 2019, 8:26 AM

    Little Pengelly versus Big Hanna!!!!

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    Mute Myles Fleming
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    Dec 11th 2019, 8:45 PM

    “United” what?

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