Officials Announce 93 Further Coronavirus-Related Deaths and 2,001 New Cases

A further 93 coronavirus-related deaths have been announced this evening.

Health officials said 89 of the deaths happened this month; however, one of them is still under investigation.

Three of the deaths happened last month.

Meanwhile, 2,001 new case have been announced taking the national total to 176,839.

This afternoon, there were 1,949 COVID-19 patients in Irish hospitals with 202 people in intensive care with their symptoms.

Medical technoligist Beatriz Montoya prepares specimens for the analyzer during COVID-19 testing in the lab at Memorial Regional South in Hollywood, Fla., on May 6, 2020. (Photo by Amy Beth Bennett/Sun Sentinel/TNS/Sipa USA)

The Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan said: “While we are starting to see the early results of our collective efforts to minimise the transmission of the virus, we are very sadly reporting an additional 93 deaths today.”

“We cannot afford to drop our guard against the very high levels of infection that remain in the community at present.

“COVID-19 ICU and hospitalisation numbers are of critical concern to us, representing a very significant pressure on our healthcare workers and on the provision of acute medical and surgical non-COVID care.

“We need everyone to stay at home, other than for essential reasons. The more that each individual follows this advice in their everyday lives, the more we can drive down the spread of COVID-19 and minimise the impact on vital healthcare services, patients and frontline workers.”

HSE COVID-19 testing for Covid-19 in Newbridge County Kildare today, 17-08-2020. Image: Eamonn Farrell/RollingNews

Of the cases announced this evening, 701 were win Dublin, with 204 in Cork, 10 in Waterford, 98 in Meath, 90 in Donegal and the remaining 806 spread across all other counties.

Monaghan still has the highest 14-day rate in the country at 2564.1 cases per 100,000 people.

Louth is in second at 2089.5, with 14 other counties reported 14-day rates higher than 1,000.

The 14-day coronavirus rate per 100,000 people in Ireland. Image: Department of Health

Of the 159,613 tests carried out in the past week, 13% have come back positive.

The five-day moving average is now 2,758, while the seven-day incidence is 447.5.