Dr Tony Holohan supports the idea of people wearing mask when they go outside

The chief medical officer has asked people to cut the chain of virus spread by wearing face masks outdoors.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin says that it will be good if everyone wear mask when they’re out. At the same time he also said that there are no plans to make it compulsory or introduce fines.

Dr Tony Holohan said that Martin’s advice is a good one and also supported the idea of wearing a mask outdoors is a good idea.

The Republic of Ireland confirmed eight ne Covid related deaths along with 4,929 additional cases.

Over 150,000 people have now tested positive for Covid-19 in the country since the beginning of the pandemic.

Yesterday’s additional cases bring the overall number recorded in the Republic to 152,539. There has been a total of 2,352 Covid-19 related deaths in Ireland.

Yesterday’s cases consist of 2,250 men / 2,641 women, 59 per cent are under 45 years of age and the median age is 39 years old.

1,513 cases are in Dublin, 695 in Cork, 320 in Limerick, 305 in Wexford, 225 in Galway and the remaining 1,871 cases are spread across all other counties.

As of 2pm yesterday, 1,582 Covid-19 patients were in Irish hospitals, of which 146 are in ICU. 156 additional Covid-19 cases were reported in Irish hospitals.

“While we are seeing the first glimmer of hope in respect of our daily case figures and positivity rates, the situation in hospitals and ICUs around the country continues to worsen day on day. We know that hospitalisations occur some weeks after a confirmed case is notified, and mortality after that again. That means we are unfortunately set for a period of time where the situation in our hospitals gets worse before it gets better.” Dr Holohan said.