Report of 56 cases of Covid-19 as second wave fears mount

There were no new deaths reported to the Health Protection Surveillance Centre yesterday, meaning there remains a total of 1,774 Covid-19 related deaths in Ireland.

Of the new cases notified yesterday, 29 are men and 27 are women. Seventy-nine % are under-45-years- old.

Thirty-five are confirmed to be associated with outbreaks, or are close contacts of a confirmed case.

Twelve cases have been identified as community transmission, meaning they were not linked to a confirmed case or spread. 

Twenty-six of the new cases are in Kildare, 13 in Dublin, and the rest of the 17 cases are in Donegal, Galway, Kerry, Laois, Longford, Meath, Monaghan, Offaly, Westmeath, and Wicklow.

The HSE say they are working to identify any contacts the patients may have had, to provide them with information and advice to prevent further spread of the virus.

The National Public Health Emergency Team met yesterday evening to consider further recommendations to present to the Government.

There is apprehension that there will be further localised lock downs announced, with Offaly, Laois, and Kildare just over halfway through their two-week lock down.

These counties were put under restrictions on August 8, after a number of Covid-19 clusters broke out in meat processing plants.

Meanwhile, there are still 232,400 people in receipt of the Pandemic Unemployment Payment.

€72.2m is being paid in PUP payments today, to those who have lost their jobs or whose workplaces are still closed due to Covid-19. 

This represents a decrease of 30,100 when compared to the 262,500 people who were paid last week. 

Overall, the number of people receiving the payment has dropped by 61%, since the peak of 598,000 on May 5. 

The sectors which saw the most employees return to work this week were accommodation and food services; wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles; and construction.

The largest cohort returning to work is the under-25 age group.

The Department of Social Protection also cut off PUP payments to almost 28,000 people who did not confirm the eligibility for the payment on time.

The deadline to confirm was Friday, August 14, with the majority confirming their eligibility. 

At the beginning of last week, there were roughly 29,000 people who had not confirmed their payments, despite having received notifications on four separate occasions, the final one being in the week ending August 9.

More than 1,000 people did confirm their continued eligibility by the deadline last Friday, and they will continue to receive their payment. 

The remainder will not receive a payment today as their PUP claim remains closed.

However, anyone who has had their payment cut off and is still entitled to the PUP can re-register using www.mywelfare.ie.