LATEST: Over 50 new cases of Covid-19 in Laois as the county passes the 1000 incidence mark
Reporter:
Fifty-three new cases of Covid-19 were notified in Laois today.
This brings the number of cases over the past 14-days to 848 with the incidence rate over the same period at 1001.2.
Despite rising above the 1000 incidence mark for the first time, Laois has the 5th lowest incidence of the disease in the county by county breakdown.
There have now been 2,199 cases of Covid-19 in Laois since February 2020 with more than 30 deaths confirmed.
The National Pubic Health Emergency Team also announced that the Health Protection Surveillance Centre has today been notified of 50 additional deaths related to COVID-19.
NPHET has urged the government to move to Level 5 after Christmas. The team has also expressed concern over the rising number of Covid cases in the republic, as well as the new strain of the virus present in the UK.
RTÉ News reports that Donnelly said his job right now is to keep people alive, keep people safe over Christmas. On Christmas Day an awful lot of people in every county in this country are going to be sitting down with their families and having a Christmas Day who otherwise wouldn t have been if this virus had been let out of control, he said.