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There are currently 106 patients in intensive care units in the Republic of Ireland.

Professor Philip Nolan, chair of NPHET Irish Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group, said the intensive care unit figure "reflects the sensitivity required in relaxing restrictions.”

Image source, Getty Images

There have now been 1,232 COVID-19-related deaths in the Republic of Ireland.

There have been 20,612 confirmed cases.

Since the pandemic began, 72 nurses, 40 healthcare assistants, 22 doctors and 45 other allied healthcare workers have been admitted to hospital in the Republic of Ireland with COVID-19, according to the country's Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan.

More than half of these cases (58%) are women, while 42% are men.

The median age of confirmed cases is 49 years.

The Department of Health has confirmed 13% of cases have led to people being admitted to hospital, while 360 people have been admitted to intensive care.

Dublin has the highest number of cases at 9,967 (50% of all cases) followed by Kildare with 1,193 cases (6%) and then Cork with 1,146 cases (6%).

The British Medical Association (BMA) has agreed to work in partnership with the Department for Infrastructure to ensure key worker driving licences are renewed as quickly as possible when a GP assessment is required.

Speaking after a call with the BMI chair in NI, Infrastructure Minister Nichola Mallon praised the organisation for “agreeing to support and prioritise the processing of medical forms for those key workers who need them to renew their licences”.

Image source, Getty Images

She added: “Medicals are essential to ensure road safety for both the driver and other road users."

Ms Mallon acknowledged that "for some, further specialist assessments may be needed to renew licences".

"With the strain on the medical profession during this crisis, getting access to this specialist assessment is proving difficult for many drivers and my department is working hard to find ways of addressing that," she said.

The Department of Health in the Republic of Ireland confirms 43 further deaths related to Covid-19 and 359 additional confirmed cases.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said he will set out a comprehensive plan next week on reopening schools, businesses and restarting the economy.

In his first briefing since his return to work, the PM said the UK was "past the peak" of the outbreak and "on a downward slope".

Image source, ANDREW PARSONS/DOWNING STREET

But he stressed the country must not "risk a second spike" of the virus.

A further 674 patients have died in hospitals and the wider community in the UK, he added.

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The number of confirmed cases of Covid-19 rose by 73 in Northern Ireland in the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 3,536.

There have been outbreaks in 70 NI care homes.

The Department of Health figures show that there are 848 Covid-19 hospital inpatients, while 3,510 people have been discharged from hospital.

Confirmed or suspected Covid cases take up 33 ICU beds while a further 33 ICU beds remain available.

A total of 1,054 hospital beds remain unoccupied.

Enda McClafferty
BBC News NI political correspondent

Robin Swan said Health Secretary Matt Hancock is aware of “political sensitivities” here when it comes to who controls and owns the data collected through the Covid-19 app.

The contact tracing app, which the minister said is still under development, will be used to alert people if they have been in close proximity to someone diagnosed with the virus.

Mr Swann was responding to concerns raised by Claire Bailey from the Green Party over who would have access to the data collected.

Image source, Getty Images

Meanwhile, the health minister said his officials are still weighing up advice on the use of masks to counter the threat of Covid-19.

Mr Swann said he personally believes the use of cloth masks might provide a false-sense of security and lead to other precautions like hand hygiene being relaxed.

Robin Swann says a dashboard with Covid-19 statistics from Northern Ireland will be up and running again tomorrow.

It originally launched earlier in April but then stopped working.

Mr Swann says it will give a more detailed breakdown of specifics with regard to number of cases and geographical breakdown.

Yesterday, Mr Swann said he wanted to ensure there was transparency around statistics.

"Considerable work" is on ongoing around the world on a variety of treatments that may reduce the period of infection from Covid-19.

Prof Ian Young confirmed some "very positive results" had emerged in the last few days.

He said these included positive results for the drug remdesivir, but said tests were still in the early stages.

"There are a number of other drugs and we expect to have results available in the next couple of weeks," he said.

Northern Ireland's coronavirus reinfection rate, or R0, is now below one, Chief Scientific Adviser Prof Ian Young has confirmed.

Prof Young said this meant each person with Covid-19 was infecting less than one person on average.

He said this meant hospital admissions and deaths were "falling slowly".

However, Prof Young said Northern Ireland remained on a "knife edge".

He said this rate could creep up once social distancing measures are relaxed and it was therefore important people continue to adhere strictly to current guidelines.

Robin Swann says that until we have a widely available vaccine there will be no full return to what only a few months ago was normality.

He says decisions will need to be made at appropriate junctures as to what precise form social distancing should take and whether individual regulations should be amended.

"These will not be easy or risk-free decisions," he adds.

"What we will be aiming for in many cases is the least worst option."

Northern Ireland has now passed the peak of the coronavirus epidemic in terms of the first wave, according to Northern Ireland's Chief Scientific Adviser Prof Ian Young.

Speaking at the daily press briefing, he said it was now clear cases were falling.

However, he said "they are falling very slowly indeed".

Health Minister Robin Swann starts the press briefing by saying he has to announce nine more deaths in Northern Ireland related to coronavirus.

He passes on his condolences to the families affected.

He says Northern Ireland is at a crucial juncture and it is important that people stick to the guidelines around social distancing.

Mr Swann adds he does not envisage a "full return to what was normality" a few months ago for some time.

"Keep digging in," is his message.

Robin Swann is at the podium at Stormont to give the daily briefing - you can watch live using the play button at the top of this page.

Image source, PSNI

Road safety camera operators have been "subjected to abuse" from road users during the pandemic, PSNI Insp Rosie Leech has said.

She added that some social media users have been making "negative comments" about the PSNI's road safety enforcement operations during the lockdown.

Insp Leech said the PSNI was trying to keep roads safe in order to protect the NHS.

"Our health service colleagues have a big enough challenge on their hands, The last thing they need is to deal with the aftermath of a serious collision," she said.

The inspector also appealed to the public to take "personal responsibility" on the roads during lockdown.

The Irish Foreign Ministry has tweeted after Simon Coveney and Brandon Lewis chaired a conference call with the NI Executive and Republic of Ireland's Department of Health on the response to Covid-19.

Northern Ireland's health minister has ruled out any change to Northern Ireland's Covid-19 restrictions.

Robin Swann warned there would be no "major or sudden shifts back to the way things used to be".

Earlier, the agriculture minister said churches should reopen now as part of a gradual return to normality.

Edwin Poots said people had got the message on the continued need for social distancing, and NI had "put coronavirus into reverse".

If off-licences could be trusted to stay open, churches could too, he said.

Read more here.

Louise Cullen
BBC News NI

There was a week's worth of personal protective equipment (PPE) stock when preparations were beginning to be made for the Covid-19 pandemic in January.

Representatives of the Business Services Organsation (BSO), which secures goods for the health service in Northern Ireland, told Stormont's health committee that they moved to increase that to 12 weeks to try to protect regular flu stockpiles.

But Peter Wilson, from the BSO, said that estimate was based on normal usage, while the Covid-19 pattern of usage was different.

“The increase has been around about 12 times what we’d go through in a normal week, but we’ve worked the stock up to meet that,” he said, adding that there have “definitely been pinch points and difficulties".

Image source, Getty Images

It also emerged that no agreement has been signed yet with the Republic of Ireland on joint procurement of PPE.

BSO chief executive Liam McIvor said staff had “engaged with colleagues from the health service in Dublin and whilst it has not yet been possible for any joint procurement to be concluded, they have very willingly shared their learning for procuring direct from China”.

Sinn Féin committee chair Colm Gildernew suggested the problem had been not that the events of the pandemic were unforeseeable, but that planning had been inadequate. That was rejected by the BSO officials, but Liam McIvor agreed lessons could be learned.

A virtual meeting of Stormont ministers with their counterparts in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis has taken place.

Deputy First Minister Michelle O'Neill shared a picture of the meeting and said saving lives remains the "primary focus of both the executive and the Irish government".

Health Minister Robin Swann has told the assembly that the Health Service has been "running on empty" and "living hand-to-mouth" for the last 10 years.

Mr Swann called for the legacy of the Covid-19 pandemic response to be a resolution to “do better by the Health Service.”

He said it needs to be better funded and also needs transformational changes.