Six more deaths from Covid-19, 39 additional cases

Six more people with Covid-19 have died in Ireland, bringing the overall death toll to 1,645.

A further 39 cases of the coronavirus have also been diagnosed in the Republic, bringing the number of confirmed cases to 24,876.

This evening, Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan said the timeline on lifting restrictions was an "appropriate, risk-based reintroduction of economic and social activity" but it was not a "rigid structure" and was subject to change.

He said that while the 5 kilometre exercise limit may be expanded in the next phase, the message is still to "stay at home".

Meanwhile, employers' group Ibec has asked the Government to bring forward the phases of reopening of the economy, scrap the quarantine restrictions for people entering the country and reduce the two-metre social distancing rule to one-metre.

Earlier today, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said that Ireland is "on track" to move to Phase Two of the easing of Covid-19 restrictions on Monday 8 June.

Speaking after a Cabinet meeting, Mr Varadkar said the issue would be discussed by ministers again next week.

He said it was "reassuring" to see the coronavirus numbers going in the "right direction".

"It takes at least two weeks to know if the actions to ease restrictions are having an effect. It will be next week before we can determine whether we can move to Phase Two."

Mr Varadkar said that in terms of reducing the two-metre social distancing rule to one metre, it is "too soon for that".

He said that Covid-19 would need to be suppressed "much more" in the community and the numbers would need to improve for a longer period in order to change the guidance.

"Two metres is safer than 1.5, and 1.5 is safer than one."

The Taoiseach said it is the intention to reopen primary and secondary schools at the end of August.

He said the Government is particularly paying attention to new and emerging research about the potential risk of schools being open.

"We know that it's not a no-risk scenario but it is a low-risk scenario," he said.

He said he believes the Government will achieve the target of opening schools at the end of August, although all students might not be able to return every day for a full day.

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Also speaking at the Cabinet briefing, Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe said the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme has been amended to allow women returning to work from maternity leave to access the payment.

He said the Revenue Commissioners will publish technical details on how this change will be implemented and the change will be legislated for later this year.

Mr Donohoe said that Revenue will implement the change from the start date of the scheme.

The Cabinet agreed that the current deal with private hospitals will not be extended beyond the end of June.

It will instead seek to negotiate a new agreement which would allow full access to these hospitals if a second wave of Covid-19 occurs.

This new deal would also provide for the use private hospitals for some non-Covid services.

Minister for Children Katherine Zappone confirmed that children attending childcare facilities are to be separated into "play pods" to minimise the risk of infection when these facilities begin reopening next month.

She said the size of "play pods" will depend on the age of children and layout of rooms in the childcare setting.

Ms Zappone said the full guidance will be published by the Health Protection Surveillance Centre.

The minister added that it is inevitable there will be transmission of the coronavirus in the childcare setting but the guidelines will provide the best way to deal with this.

The Taoiseach said there is "no exact date" for when health services such as cancer screening can resume.

The restoration of normal services is under way and will be "phased back in", he said.

He urged anyone experiencing non-Covid symptoms to seek help.

This evening, the Chief Medical Officer said the "great majority" of the population is sticking with the restrictions and he encouraged them to continue to do so.

Dr Tony Holohan said he has seen no trends that give cause for concern.

"We have another week to go before we can make that final assessment. We want to maintain high levels of compliance and we know that has been a challenge."

Dr Holohan said he could not identify anything today that would lead to advice that restrictions be eased earlier, but issues relating to children may be added to advice next week.

The advice would be dependent on the stage of the disease, he added, and this will be formulated by the National Public Health Emergency Team next Thursday.

Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Dr Ronan Glynn, said people should keep a record of who they are meeting.

"People are out and about more, particularly with the bank holiday weekend and the good weather," he said.

Dr Holohan asked people not to plan trips outside of the country that are not essential.

He said he does not think conditions around the disease are such that airline travel can resume in the short-term.

"The state of the disease is not the same in every country. Our experience of the disease is different," he added.

Dr Holohan said that new guidance on Covid-19 symptoms, relating to the loss of taste and smell, would be communicated by the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) to GPs next week.

In Northern Ireland, there have been three further deaths as a result of the coronavirus, bringing the official Department of Health total to 521.

One of the deaths occurred within the past 24 hours, while the other two were previously unreported.

There are 17 new confirmed cases of Covid-19, taking the total number of cases in the region to 4,696.

Up until 27 May, there were 24,837 Covid cases of which 3,270 were hospitalised and 404 were admitted to intensive care.

Of these, 32% were healthcare workers with the male-female breakdown at 43%-57%.

There have been 404 admissions to intensive care in total.

There were 44 people in intensive care this morning with two additional admissions since yesterday.