Irish health service reports early positive signs in COVID-19 fight

The head of the Irish health service said on Thursday there were early signs that the spread of COVID-19 was being curtailed by the country's lockdown, which began in late December and has since been tightened after a spike in infections.

We are seeing "early signs of reducing numbers of cases, a reducing growth rate of the number of cases, and reducing number of contacts" that people report having in the days prior to diagnosis, Health Service Executive CEO Paul Reid told a news conference.

Chief Clinical Officer Colm Henry said it was not yet clear whether the number of hospitalisations by mid-January would be closer to the health service's optimistic scenario of 1,500 or the pessimistic scenario of 2,500, up from 1,022 today.

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