WOMEN are now testing positive for Covid-19 more frequently than men, according to the latest statistics.
Ever since the outbreak began, figures generally showed that men were more susceptible to the virus, and were also more adversely affected by the symptoms than women were.
However, it appears that the gender imbalance has flattened out, and that now, women are testing positive at a higher rate than men.
In the last 24 hours, 14 people in Ireland have died as a result of Covid-19, with a further 212 cases confirmed.
Of the 14, seven were women and seven were men.
Their sad passing brings the total number of coronavirus-related deaths in the Republic of Ireland to 85, or 101 on the island of Ireland.
Over 30,000 tests have now been administered, and health officials are looking to increase the number of daily screenings to 15,000 a day, though at the moment, capacity limits them to figures a fraction of that number.
The logjam in coronavirus testing is now leaving some patients waiting two weeks to find out if they are positive for the virus.
The Department of Health also confirmed if a person dies before their test is processed, they are counted as positive.
"Unfortunately there will be an awful lot of people in the community who will have been waiting maybe seven to 10 days for a result," said Dr Cillian De Gascun, chair of the HSE's Coronavirus Expert Advisory Group,
"This was obviously unanticipated and it is unfortunate but doesn't really change our plan of ramping up testing over the coming weeks to achieve between 10,000 and 15,000 tests per day."
