The mortality rate from coronavirus outbreaks in nursing homes is increasing.
That is according to the Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Dr Heather Burns.
She said four in every 10 deaths in the last month have been linked directly to nursing homes.
"In the nursing home and community hospital setting, six additional outbreaks were notified in the week to the 17th of October.
"There are now 33 open outbreaks in this setting, with 451 linked cases.
"We are unfortunately continuing to see an increase in mortality.
"In the first three weeks of October, there have been 60 deaths in confirmed and probable COVID-19 cases - 24 of which are linked to nursing home outbreaks."
And Dr Burns warned that the 14-day incidence has grown exponentially since June.
She said the risk of people being exposed to COVID-19 is now '100-times greater'.
"The 14-day incidence was at three per 100,000 at the end of June - today it is 302 per 100,000 population.
"The risk of you being exposed to COVID-19 is now 100-times greater than it was four months ago.
"Please limit your risk by staying at home and following public health advice."
It comes as there have been 1,066 further cases of COVID-19 in Ireland on Thursday.
Latest figures also show that three more deaths have been reported.
There has been a total of 1,871 deaths and 54,476 cases here.
Appeal for help
Meanwhile a nursing home in Co Galway, where all but two residents have tested positive for the virus, has appealed for help.
Director of nursing at Nightingale Nursing Home, Patricia McGowan, told The Hard Shoulder the HSE needs to do more for them.
"We've done everything they've asked us to do, we've tried everything they've asked us to try.
"And they're telling Marie when she rings to say 'The staff you promised me this morning didn't show up, they are not here.'
"And essentially the response we get is 'Don't panic, leave it with me'.
"We don't have that luxury, we can't leave it with them: we have people to look after, we have people to try and keep alive, that's the bottom line.
"We're not messing here, we are looking after vulnerable people who have COVID-19 and we want them to stay alive, and we need help to do that".
She said the two staff on duty "don't even get to drink, they don't even get to take a breath of air outside, and they're not going to last".
"If any of those people that have told us 'Don't panic, leave it with me' would they be happy if we said that to their mother if they were a resident in the nursing home?
"I don't think so".
