A further 43 people with COVID-19 have died in the Republic, the highest daily death toll recorded so far.

Twenty-two males and 21 females have died, with 27 of these reported as having underlying health conditions.

Thirty-four of the deaths occurred in the east of the country, five in the south and four in the west.

There have now been 486 COVID-related deaths in Ireland. This figures reflects the denotification of one death, which had been listed as a COVID-19 death, but is no longer classified as such.

Meanwhile, an additional 724 new cases of the virus have also been confirmed - 629 reported by Irish laboratories and 95 by a laboratory in Germany.

There are now a total of 13,271 cases here.

According to the Department of Health's chief medical officer, Dr Tony Holohan, "the data clearly shows that there are two very different experiences of COVID-19 in Ireland today".

"In the population at large, the virus is contained and effectively suppressed. However, the experience of the disease in long-term residential care settings continues to be a source of concern.

"In order to protect the vulnerable, the first task was to suppress the virus in the population at large. We are increasingly confident that we are achieving this. All of our efforts now need to be on extinguishing COVID-19 in our community residential settings, including nursing homes," Dr Holohan said.

The R0 (r-nought) represents how many people the average person with the virus is likely to infect in a completely susceptible population. The higher the R0, the faster the disease spreads. For example, an R0 of three means that each person with the virus is likely to infect three others. An R0 of one means they are likely to infect one other person.

According to Prof Philip Nolan, chair of the National Public Health Emergency Team's Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group, the R0 in Ireland is now estimated to be between 0.7 and 1.0, "which means current restrictions are successfully suppressing the disease".

However, he warned that this R0 could jump up quickly depending on people's behaviours.

This was backed up by Dr Holohan who warned that if some restrictions were lifted, "but people interpret that as meaning we are on a pathway towards going back to the way things were in February, and people start to organise parties and concerts and get togethers, we will very quickly move back into a situation where that R0 jumps right up".

Prof Nolan added that the objective is to keep the R0 at or below one, "and that is the very delicate balance that we have to think through".

COVID-19 is spread through close contact with an infected person's body fluids (e.g. droplets from coughing or sneezing), or by touching surfaces that an infected person has coughed or sneezed on. It can take up to 14 days for symptoms of the virus to show. These may include a fever, a persistent cough, shortness of breath and breathing difficulties.

COVID-19 can also cause more severe illnesses, including pneumonia and severe breathing difficulties. Some 80% of cases will be mild to moderate, 14% will be more severe, while 6% will be critical.

Restrictions in relation to COVID-19 are now in place until May 5. As part of these restrictions, everybody is being asked to stay at home, except in specific circumstances. These include:
-Travelling to and from work in circumstances where the work is an essential health, social care or other essential service that cannot be done from home
-To shop for essential food and household goods
-To attend medical appointments
-For vital family reasons, such as caring for children or elderly people
-To take brief individual exercise within your locality, which may include children from your household, however this should be within 2km of your home.

All public and private gatherings of any number of people outside a single household or living unit are prohibited.

Those over the age of 70 and medically vulnerable people are also being cocooned. For more information on this, click here.

ALONE, the organisation that supports older people to age at home, is running a national support line for older people facing difficulties due to COVID-19. The support line is open every day from 8am to 8pm, call 0818 222 024.

For more information on COVID-19, click here.