The mathematical experts tracking Covid-19 in Ireland are convinced that thousands of lives have been saved and an enormous amount of illness has been avoided during the eight weeks of lockdown.
But for many 18 May, when some of those restrictions will be eased, cannot come fast enough. There are five tests to be considered before the Government will proceed to ease the social restrictions next Monday.
The first relates to the progress of the disease. Fortunately on this all the signs are good as can be clearly seen in this graph showing the number of new Confirmed cases of Covid-19 per day.
We hit a daily peak of 1,068 confirmed cases per day in the middle of April. But we were down to just 159 on Wednesday this week and that general