Covid-19 latest: Department of Health confirms 1,247 new cases, of which 87 are in Cork

The Department of Health has confirmed that 1,247 new cases of Covid-19 have been diagnosed in Ireland, 87 of which are in Cork, as of midnight last night.

An additional 15 Covid-19 related deaths have also been notified to the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) today.

Of the confirmed new cases there are 430 in Dublin, 97 in Wexford, 87 in Cork, 84 in Limerick, 76 in Galway and the remaining 473 cases are spread across all other counties.

579 are men and 659 are women, with 60% under 45 years of age.

Dr Tony Holohan, Chief Medical Officer at the Department of Health this evening made a renewed appeal to employers to encourage their employees to work from home.

"There is an onus on employers to ensure that, in the first instance, staff are encouraged to work from home and in cases where that is not possible, that their workplaces are safe for staff and customers and in full compliance with infection prevention and control measures.

"The HPSC has comprehensive guidance on outbreak management and infection prevention control measures that every employer should be familiar with and activating on their premises. 

"I encourage all employers and managers to review their workplaces and ensure they have effective measures in place," he said.

As of 2pm today, 1,516 Covid-19 patients are hospitalised, of which 211 are in ICU.

There were 39 additional hospitalisations in the past 24 hours.

So far there have been a total of 196,547 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Ireland and a total of 3,307 Covid-19 related deaths.