Health officials have announced 89 new cases of coronavirus taking the national total to 29,114.
One further death has been announced; however, the death toll remains at 1,777 after one previously announced death was denotified.
The death announced this evening occurred in June. There have been no deaths associated with the virus in the past two weeks.
4 people with Covid-19 died in this country for the month of August.
— Shane Beatty 🎙 (@ShaneBeattyNews) September 2, 2020
Eight of the cases have been identified as community transmission while 56% are associated with outbreaks or are close contacts of a previously confirmed case.
Some 53 of the new cases are in Dublin, with 15 in Limerick and the remaining 21 cases spread across Clare, Cork, Kildare, Kilkenny, Laois, Leitrim, Longford, Meath, Offaly, Waterford, Westmeath, Wexford and Wicklow.
The Chair of the NPHET Irish Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group, Professor Philip Nolan said the virus now appears to be "growing very slowly in many counties across Ireland, including Dublin."
"A large number of cases are associated with outbreaks in private houses and families," he said.
"The R number is just above 1, perhaps as high as 1.2, so the virus is circulating in the community at levels we don’t want to see. This means we need to remain focused on our shared national priorities, which are the safe reopening of schools, continuing to resume non-COVID healthcare and protecting the most vulnerable to this dangerous disease.”
ℹ️ NEW: NPHET modelling shows the virus is growing very slowly in many counties across Ireland, including Dublin. The R Number is just above 1, perhaps as high as 1.2, so NPHET says the virus is circulating in the community at levels it doesn’t want to see.
— Shane Beatty 🎙 (@ShaneBeattyNews) September 2, 2020
The acting chief Medical Officer Dr Ronan Glynn said: “Every single contribution and effort you make counts to the national push to curb the effects of this infectious virus on our society.
“Every time you take responsibility to keep your social contacts low, avoid a crowded place or get-together, know that you are making a vital difference.
“It is individual action built upon individual action that will get us through this pandemic.”
He said the effort to suppress the virus “begins in our own homes.”
“Many confirmed cases in the past weeks and months have been close contacts of confirmed cases,” he said.
“It is in our own household through regular handwashing, cough and sneeze hygiene, cleaning surfaces, limiting the number of visitors and isolating as soon as we experience any concerning symptoms that we can make the biggest impact.”
As of 8am this morning, there were 40 COVID-19 patients in Irish hospitals with six in intensive care.
Of the 61,709 tests carried out in the past week, some 1.2% have come back positive.
