Lockdown of country still possible as Tipp's Covid cases edge towards 700

As the number of Covid-19 cases confirmed in County Tipperary approached the 700 mark this week, experts are warning that a second lockdown of the country will be avoided if at all possible, but they are not confident enough to say it won't happen.

Tipperary has featured prominently in recent weeks in terms of counties with the highest number of confirmed cases.

In fact, on Tuesday of last week the Premier County recorded a total of 31 confirmed cases - the highest of all counties in the Republic on that day - accounting for more that one third of the 92 cases that had been notified nationwide.

While many of the cases in Tipperary are associated with outbreaks in ABP in Cahir and Walsh Mushrooms in Golden, public health officials have expressed concern about the growing level of community transmissions that are occurring nationwide.

The majority of confirmed cases have been reported in people aged under 45.

On Tuesday of last week ABP in Cahir said that 22 members of staff at its plant, along with 16 close contacts, had tested positive for the virus.

Meanwhile Walsh Mushrooms has reported at least 29 cases of the virus among its staff.

On Wednesday of last week the Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly warned that Ireland was reaching a "tipping point" and that the pandemic is "close to having us lock down the country again".

The minister said currently the strategy was to use targeted measures to suppress the virus while keeping as much of society and the economy as open as possible.

Acting Chief Medical Officer Dr Ronan Glynn early last week referred to cases being recorded in 25 of the 26 counties over the previous 14 days, including 120 in Tipperary alone - the third highest county in the period behind Dublin (473) and Kildare (332).

Daily figures of confirmed cases in Tipperary were on the higher end of the scale compared to most counties throughout much of last week and the previous week.

On Wednesday of last week Tipperary recorded 10 cases out of the total of 164 confirmed cases nationwide - third behind Dublin (93) and Kildare (22).

Commenting on the figures, Dr Glynn urged people everywhere to follow public health advice and reduce mixing of households were at all possible.

There were 93 cases on Thursday last, but on this occasion Tipperary was not listed in the five counties were the daily case numbers were most prevalent.

But that picture changed on Friday last when Tipperary recorded nine cases of the total of 127 cases nationwide, the third highest on that day behind Dublin (52) and Monaghan (13).

On Saturday last Tipperary was the sixth highest county, with six cases out of a total of 142 nationwide, behind Dublin (59), Kildare (20), Donegal (14), Limerick (14) and Wexford (8).

Of the total of 42 cases confirmed on Sunday last, none were in Tipperary.

On Monday of this week the total number of confirmed cases in the county since the pandemic struck last March totalled 696.

At least one other confirmed case was reported on Monday.

It was reported on Tuesday that at least 55 cases of Covid-19 in Ireland have been linked to some form of sporting activity.