Coronavirus: Ireland's R number drops below one

Stephen Donnelly said case numbers had fallen in 23 counties

The R-rate of Covid-19 transmission in the Republic of Ireland has dropped below 1, according to the country's health minister.

Stephen Donnelly told the Dáil (Irish parliament) health committee it was sitting between 0.7 and 0.9.

The R-rate indicates how many others someone with coronavirus could go on to infect.

The news comes two weeks after the Irish government imposed its toughest Level 5 restrictions nationwide.

The measures, broadly similar to the spring lockdown, were to be in place for six weeks, but will be reviewed after four.

On Wednesday, Mr Donnelly said there had been positive signs in recent days that the virus rate had fallen in 23 out of 26 counties.

He said the current 14-day incidence rate is 228 cases per 100,000 people.

This compares to 278 per 100,000 in the previous 14-day period.

The health minister said the Republic of Ireland was "bucking the trend" by moving early in tightening restrictions to combat the virus.

However, he told the committee there had been almost 11,000 positive cases reported in the past 14 days.