The Department of Health announced yesterday evening that a further 77 people who had been diagnosed with Covid-19 have died, bringing the overall death toll in Ireland to 687.

401 more cases of the coronavirus have also been confirmed in the Republic, bringing the overall number of  cases here to 15,652.

Of the additional deaths announced four were in the west of the country.

The number of confirmed cases of the virus in Mayo now stands at 332, 294 cases in Galway , 91 in Roscommon and 78 in Sligo.

At yesterday’s monthly meeting of Mayo County Council what was described as “the high incidents of confirmed cases of the virus in Mayo compared to the significantly higher populated county of Galway”, was raised by the Cathaoirleach of Castlebar Michael Kilcoyne.

The cllr called for answers from Saolta on why that’s the case and in addition asked why the number of staff out of work at MUH with either confirmed or suspected cases of Covid 19 is also the highest in any of the hospitals in the Saolta group.

Midwest News put both questions to the Saolta press office yesterday and we  await a response

In a statement by Mayo County Council to cllrs yesterday the CEO of the authority Peter Hynes stated that the COVID 19 outbreak in Mayo continues to escalate particularly in residential care facilities. “We have new hotspots in the North of the County. This is a major concern, as is the age profile of our community and the large number of residential care and retirement facilities , both public and private throughout the county.

He added that adherence to HSE guidelines, travel restrictions and social distancing will play a major part in determining how quickly the outbreak here can be brought under control.