Coronavirus Ireland: Irish healthcare worker tragically passes away from Covid-19

An Irish healthcare worker has tragically passed away from coronavirus, it has been confirmed.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar made the announcement at a media briefing this evening.

No further personal details of the healthcare worker were revealed.

The Taoiseach, Health Minister Simon Harris and Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan addressed reporters at the press conference.

Earlier it had been confirmed that three more people had died from Covid-19 in Ireland.

There were also 302 new cases of the virus, bringing the total number here to 2,121.

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Taoiseach Leo Varadkar (Steve Humphreys/PA Wire)

It comes after Varadkar has said earlier today that he would be “pleasantly surprised” if the coronavirus death toll was only 1,000 Irish people.

The Taoiseach was speaking at a food warehouse in Dublin this afternoon where he also said that the country’s Intensive Care Units (ICU) are heading for full capacity within days.

He said: “Take the average flu season in Ireland, there would be roughly 500 deaths. 

“If you had a bad flu season in Ireland you would have roughly 1,000 deaths.

(L to R) Minister for Health Simon Harris TD and An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar TD during a visit to ALONE by the Taoiseach and Minister where they paid tribute to the organisation's staff and the vital service they provide for older people at ALONE offices, Olympic House, Pleasants Street, Dublin (Gareth Chaney/Collins)

“So it would be a surprise and a very pleasant surprise if the number of deaths at the end of it was less than 1,000,”

Mr Varadkar also said that things are going to get “very difficult” in the next few days when capacity is reached in our hospital’s ICUs.

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He added: “Just the way things are heading indicate that ICU will be at capacity in a number of days.

“That’s already the case around Europe - it may happen here. We have to plan for that.

“We need to make sure we have capacity, ventilators, all of those things.

“All of that is happening. 

“An unprecedented effort is being made by the health service to tool-up, to recruit, to provide additional capacity.

“Just as we are seeing in Europe and in America, as we saw in China, there is not a health service in the world that will be able to tool-up or scale-up as quickly as is necessary.

“We are going to be managing a very difficult situation and everybody will be doing the best they can.”