There have been 235 new cases of coronavirus in Ireland, the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) said on Wednesday.

Two more people have also died.

The patients are a woman in the east of the country, with an underlying health condition, and a man, also in the east.

There have now been nine COVID-19 related deaths in Ireland.

It brings the total number of cases here to 1,564.

Data as of midnight on Monday March 23rd reveals:

• 55% are male and 45% are female, with 63 clusters involving 289 cases
• The median age of confirmed cases is 45 years
• 305 cases (26%) have been hospitalised
• Of those hospitalised, 39 cases have been admitted to ICU
• 283 cases (24%) are associated with healthcare workers
• Dublin has the highest number of cases at 559, (57% of all cases), followed by Cork with 133 cases (11%)

Of those for whom transmission status is known: community transmission accounts for 49%, close contact accounts for 23%, travel abroad accounts for 28%.

Earlier it was confirmed that patients will now need to meet revised criteria to qualify for a COVID-19 test - including displaying two major symptoms of the virus.

Patients must now have a fever and at least one respiratory symptoms (such as a cough or shortness of breath) to be referred for testing, after Ireland yesterday adopted the World Health Organisation case definition.

Contacts of a confirmed case, healthcare staff and vulnerable groups will be prioritised for testing.

Chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan said: "Our data showed yesterday that only 6% of our tests so far returned positive; so for every 100 people we test we are only finding 6 people with COVID-19. In light of this, our case definition changed."

“Changing case definition is a standard practice in managing pandemics.

"Ultimately, we want our 6% detected rate to increase, we want to find as many people as possible with COVID-19, isolate them and contain the spread."

Dr Colm Henry, chief clinical officer at the HSE, added: "There has been ongoing engagement with GPs over the past 24 hours.

"GPs are best placed to advise individuals with symptoms whether they need a test or not.

"Ultimately, the test has no impact on the clinical course of this disease and the priority for anyone with symptoms is to isolate themselves."

Earlier Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said he no longer thinks there will be 15,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus in Ireland by the end of the month - but he is continuing to urge people not to be complacent.

Internationally

It comes as the number of deaths from coronavirus in the UK has risen to 437.

Six more deaths in Scotland take the total there to 22, Wales announced five more deaths and Northern Ireland said its total had increased to seven.

England announced 83 deaths from the virus on Tuesday.

More than 8,000 people have tested positive in the UK, including Prince Charles.

Spain now has the second highest number of coronavirus deaths in the world - with more than 3,400.

Another 738 fatalities were reported earlier on Wednesday.

Italy still has the largest number at almost 7,000.