COVID-19

330 new COVID-19 cases

330 new COVID-19 cases

The Health Protection Surveillance Centre have released their latest daily figures on the spread of Coronavirus.

330 cases of the virus have been confirmed, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 69,802.

In the South-East, Waterford (9) and Wexford (7) are the only two counties that have had more than five confirmed new cases, with Kilkenny, Tipperary and Carlow all confirming fewer than five new virus cases.

A further four people have sadly lost their life with the virus, taking the total number of COVID-19 related deaths to 2,010.

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Health officials have raised concerns today that the average number of cases over the last five days is around 400.

There's also been a slight increase in the reproduction rate and the number of close contacts for confirmed cases.

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It's as questions have been raised in Northern Ireland over the logic of businesses reopening for one week before having to close for a fresh round of lockdown restrictions.

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The Stormont Executive announced on Thursday evening that non-essential retail, pubs and restaurants must close for two weeks from November 27th.

Several relaxations of restrictions agreed last week went ahead on Friday, with coffee shops and close-contact services such as hairdressers reopening. Those business will be forced to close again next Friday when the ramped-up lockdown is introduced.

The latest announcement by the executive has been widely criticised by business representatives, who have accused the administration of mishandling the pandemic response and failing to provide sufficient financial support to help struggling firms.

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