Health Minister Simon Harris has thanked the Irish public for their efforts after eight of the past nine days saw fewer than 100 new coronavirus cases diagnosed in Ireland.
Deputy Harris took to social media to praise the hard work done by the vast majority of people to help flatten the curve.
After a consistent run of encouraging figures from health officials over the past nine days, the Wicklow TD thanked the Irish public and their families for playing their part in the national effort to slow the spread of the potentially deadly virus.
He also said that we need to keep up the work and find a way to continue "living alongside the virus by following our plan".
Health Minister Simon Harris tweeted this evening: “Eight of the last 9 days the number of new #Covid19 cases have been below 100.
“This progress is thanks to you and your family.
“We now need to maintain it and work to carefully find ways of living alongside the virus by following our plan.
“Stay safe. We will get there.”
His comments come after it was revealed earlier that the €350 weekly Covid-19 payment is set to be reduced from early June, with Minister Harris' colleague, Finance Minister Pascal Donohue expected to announce that from next month, recipients will be paid their average income before the pandemic to avoid people refusing to look or return to work.
Minister Harris's words of thanks to the public come after it was revealed today that four more people have lost their lives to coronavirus in Ireland with the death toll now standing at 1,608.
And 57 new cases were also confirmed by the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC), bringing the total of infected people in the country to 24,639.
Unsurprisingly, Dublin has the highest number of cases at 11,873 (48% of all cases) followed by Cork with 1,428 cases (6%) and then Kildare with 1,392 cases (6%).
Worldwide, the number of confirmed Covid-19 cases is approaching five and a half million, while the United States under the disastrous non-leadership of Donald Trump is set to pass 100,000 deaths in the next few hours, despite their president insisting that his county is leading the way in the fight against the pandemic.
