A further 41 COVID-19 patients have died in the Republic, taking the death toll here to 406.
Meanwhile, 832 new cases have been confirmed across the country taking the national total to 11,479.
Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan said 83% of the patients who have died from the virus had been suffering from underlying medical conditions.
The average age of the dead is 69-years-old.
Some 240 men have been confirmed dead along with 166 women.
Some 26 of the patients reported dead in the past 24 hours were in the east of the country, with four in the west and one in the south.
There were 16 women and 25 men among the dead.
Some 31 of them were reported as having underlying health conditions.
Testing
Dr Cillian De Gascun, Chair of the National Public Health Emergency Team’s Expert Advisory Group said the country’s testing capacity has been “significantly strengthened” in recent days.
As of midnight last night, a total of 90,646 test had been carried out – with 62,952 examined at Irish laboratories and 27,694 examined in Germany.
Nearly 20,500 tests have been carried out in the past week – with one-in-five coming back positive.
“Having come through a challenging few weeks, we have significantly strengthened testing capacity and will continue to do so over the coming week,” said Dr De Gascun.
He said the increase will “put us in a very strong position to identify and suppress the virus.”
BREAKING: A further 41 people are confirmed to have sadly died from #Covid19 in the Republic. 548 new cases confirmed today too, along with 284 back from a German lab. It now brings the death toll to 406 & the number of confirmed cases stands at 11,479. #StayHome 🙏
— Shane Beatty (@ShaneBeattyNews) April 14, 2020
Intensive Care
As of midnight on Sunday, 1,903 patients had been hospitalised with the virus.
Meanwhile, 275 of these were taken into the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
A total of 82% of patients have not been hospitalised.
2/3 Discussed at today’s NPHET meeting;
· Residential care settings; @HSELive will put in place a coordinated national process to identify the prevalence of #COVID19 across nursing homes and other residential healthcare settings; as recommended by the ECDC.
— MerrionStreet.ie #StayAtHome (@merrionstreet) April 14, 2020
2/3 Discussed at today’s NPHET meeting;
· Residential care settings; @HSELive will put in place a coordinated national process to identify the prevalence of #COVID19 across nursing homes and other residential healthcare settings; as recommended by the ECDC.
— MerrionStreet.ie #StayAtHome (@merrionstreet) April 14, 2020
Nursing homes
On Saturday, there were 149 clusters of cases in nursing homes around the country and Dr Holohan said health officials are working to put in place a coordinated national process to identify the prevalence of the virus across the sector.
“We remain concerned about the prevalence of COVID-19 in nursing homes and residential care settings,” he said.
“The National Public Health Emergency Team is monitoring developments in these facilities and continues to advance supports and actions where needed.
“From the beginning, we have been aware that vulnerable groups, including the elderly, are at greater risk from this virus. These groups will continue to be our priority.”
Population testing
Meanwhile, the Health Protection Surveillance Centre is to develop a strategy for a new study aimed at identifying the proportion of the population that has ever had COVID-19, regardless of testing.
