Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Before I move the Order for Second Stage, with the permission of the Acting Chairman, Deputy Durkan, I would like to give an update on where we are in terms of Covid. There is some good news. On the one hand, the number of cases per week has been rising, which is something we have all been watching. In the past four weeks, the number of cases went from 61 cases in a week to 93 cases, to 124 cases and last week we hit 143 cases. At the same time, the average close contact is still high at more than five. However, I am informed today after the National Public Health Emergency Team, NPHET, meeting that the view is that, in the past ten days, things have stabilised, which is very welcome. The number of tests done in the past seven days is 51,000 and we have a very low positivity rate of 0.3, which suggests that the prevalence of the virus in the population is low. The five-day average of new cases is 18 cases per day and the reproduction number has fallen and is now somewhere between 1 and 1.4. That is some positive news that I know the House will be interested in.

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