Covid-19 death toll passes 3,000
10:15 Wednesday, 27 January 2021
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It’s after a further 90 deaths were reported yesterday – the second highest daily figure.
928 new cases were confirmed yesterday evening, with 6 cases linked to the South African variant.
There have been more Covid-19 cases in January so far than the whole of 2020, despite close contacts not being tested.
Meanwhile, around 140 files have been referred to the D-P-P relating to people arriving into Ireland without a negative PCR test, according to a government minister.
Public Expenditure Minister Michael McGrath says people who do arrive without a negative test are being dealt with by the authorities.
Robert Watt, the top civil servant in the Department of Health, has expressed doubts about the HSE s ability to hire nearly 16,000 extra staff that have been promised this year.
Mr Watt has been appointed interim secretary general in the Department of Health, a job that will command a salary of €292,000 when it is filled permanently - an €81,000 salary increase that is now being probed by the Dáil s Public Accounts Committee.
As secretary general of the Department of Public Expenditure, Mr Watt wrote to his then counterpart in Health, Colm O Reardon, on October 27 last regarding the unprecedented €22bn budget for the Department in 2021.
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