THERE have been six new Covid-19 cases confirmed in Donegal today, the HSE has said.
The county has seen a sharp increase in positive cases over the last two weeks.
Until yesterday, there had been 25 confirmed infections in the previous two weeks – and that number has risen further this evening.
Six of the 93 new cases confirmed in the Republic of Ireland today are in Donegal, with 34 in Dublin and seven in Kildare and there are also six new cases in Laois.
In a statement earlier today, the HSE said of Covid-19 testing in Donegal: “At times precautionary and pre-emptive measures may be implemented.
“We are being proactive in following up the current positive cases in Donegal, carrying out large volumes of testing. This is not unusual and done to identify any positive cases at an early stage, limiting the spread of the disease.
“The HSE respects the privacy of all patients being tested. Capacity for community testing in Donegal has been scaled up as required in the past number of weeks.”
Several sports clubs across the county have temporarily suspended activities this week as precautions.
This evening Dr. Ronan Glynn, Acting Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health, said: “The most effective action we can take to reduce the transmission rate of this virus is to reduce our number of close contacts.
“If we do this and keep practicing the other safe behaviours by continuing to physical distance, avoid crowds, wash our hands, cover our coughs and sneezes, wear a face mask where appropriate and download the COVID Tracker app, we have a real chance of slowing the spread of the virus to where we want it to be.”
There have been no further Covid-19 related deaths recorded today, health officials say.
Since the outbreak, there have now been 28,453 infections in Ireland and there have been 1,777 Covid-19 related deaths.
