NPHET Meets Today Amid Concern Over Rise In Coronavirus Cases Across The Country

A 'window of opportunity' to stop COVID-19 becoming an national issue is closing, according to the Acting Chief Medical Officer.

The National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) will meet today to discuss the rise of cases around the country - in particular in counties such as Cork, Galway, Roscommon and Monaghan.

Dr Ronan Glynn warned the spread of COVID-19 in every county is going in the 'wrong direction', after 429 new cases were confirmed yesterday.

The 14-day COVID-19 rate per 100,000 people for every county in Ireland, 30-09-2020. Image: HPSC

He repeated his message that everyone needs to reduce their social contacts.

He said: "There is no county that hasn't had cases in the last 14 days, and there's no county really that isn't seeing an increasing incidence... albeit some counties are relatively stable.

"Overall, every county is unfortunately going in the wrong direction."

Dr Glynn said there were 130 people in hospital, including 15 in the past 24 hours.

However, he stressed that the sooner people act the sooner the country can 'turn the tide' against the virus.

Main image: Pictured are (l to r) Dr Colm Henry, Chief Clinical Officer, HSE; Dr. Ronan Glynn, Acting Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health; and Professor Philip Nolan, Chair of the NPHET Irish Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group. Photo: Leah Farrell/Rollingnews.ie