The HSE have warned people not to wear disposable gloves when doing their shopping or heading out and about.
Professor Martin Cormican, HSE National Lead for Antibiotic Resistance & Infection Control said that if gloves have the Covid-19 virus on them it can easily be spread to a person.
Prof Cormican said earlier today: "A lot of people are using disposable gloves in everyday life. So, one of our key messages this year for hand hygiene day is that we do not recommend using gloves while doing your shopping or when you are out and about.
“If there are bugs on your gloves those bugs often end up on your hands when you take the gloves off and from there they can very easily end up in your mouth, nose and eyes.
“It’s much better to clean your hands regularly and properly.
"Even in special settings such as hospitals where gloves are valuable there is still a need to perform hand hygiene when the gloves come off.
“In hospitals, gloves are single use for single patient care tasks.”
The advices comes as it was announced another 16 people have died and 266 new cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed.
The latest figures bring the death toll to 1,319 and the total number of cases in the Republic of Ireland to 21,772.
Out of the 21,437 confirmed cases reported by the Department of Health by midnight, Saturday, May 2, 58% are women and 42% are men.
The median age of the confirmed cases is 49.
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