DUBLIN (Reuters) – Ireland has seen a steady decrease in COVID-19 infections stall in recent days and the “reproduction rate” that measures the number of people infected by each positive case has increased, a senior health official said on Thursday.
The reproduction rate, also known as the R number, is currently around 0.7-0.9, up from 0.6 a week ago, Colm Henry, the chief clinical officer in the Irish Health Service Executive, told a news briefing.
The government has said it hoped to see the R number fall to 0.5 to allow the country’s strict COVID-19 restrictions to be eased on schedule on Dec. 1.
(Reporting by Conor Humphries; Editing by Catherine Evans)
