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Department of Health confirms fourth death and 121 new cases in Republic of Ireland this Sunday evening bringing the total number to 906 in the Republic of Ireland

Four people have died from the virus and 177 people have been hospitalised.

A further 47 people have died in the United Kingdom after testing positive for the coronavirus, bringing the total number of deaths to 281, the UK government has announced.

The number of confirmed cases rose to 5,683 from 5,018 on Saturday.

The death toll from Covid-19 in Italy has risen by 651 to 5,476, an increase of 13.5% but down on Saturday's figure when some 793 people died.

The total number of cases in Italy rose to 59,138 from a previous 53,578, an increase of 10.4%, the Civil Protection Agency said, the lowest rise in percentage terms since the contagion came to light on 21 February.

Of those originally infected nationwide, 7,024 had fully recovered on Sunday compared to 6,072 the day before. There were 3,009 people in intensive care against a previous 2,857.

The hardest-hit northern region of Lombardy remained in a critical situation, with 3,456 deaths and 27,206 cases against a previously given 3,095 and 25,515 respectively.

New York is days away from running out of essential equipment needed to keep hospitals running because of the coronavirus pandemic, its mayor warned Sunday.

The Big Apple has the highest number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the United States and Bill de Blasio said the city's hospitals were at breaking point.

"Bluntly, we're about ten days away now from seeing widespread shortages of ventilators, surgical masks, the things necessary to keep a hospital system running," De Blasio told CNN.

He pleaded with US President Donald Trump to mobilize the military to help spur production and distribution of urgently needed medical supplies.

"If we don't get more ventilators in the next ten days, people will die who don't have to die. It's as simple as that," said De Blasio.

He warned that "the worst is yet to come" and called the fast-spreading outbreak "the greatest crisis domestically since the Great Depression" of the 1930s.

"That's why we need a full-scale mobilization of the military and we need the Congress to act like we're on the way to the next great depression," De Blasio said. "Forget bailing out the airlines right now. Bail out the people. Bail out the hospitals. Bail out the cities and states and counties."

Almost 27,000 people have been infected with the COVID-19 coronavirus in the United States, according to a running tally by Johns Hopkins University. More than 8,000 of those live in New York City, where 60 people have died, de Blasio said. A total of 76 people have died in New York state so far.

The risk of contracting Covid-19 in Ireland remains low, but "it is increasing" according to Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan.

Dr Holoahn said the majority of tests being done now for the virus will come back without detecting the virus but that the risk is increasing and that the Department of health is tracking this.

Of all of the cases that are tested, a percentage of those are positive.

"That's gone from 1% to 2% to 4%", Dr Holohan said, adding that he "expects to be reporting a further doubling of that this week and that means the virus is more common in the community".

He urged anyone with symptoms (a cough, fever or breathing difficulties) to suspect that it is Covid-19 that is causing those symptoms.

Dr Holohan said that while there is currently a delay in testing, people waiting should still stay at home and isolate, along with their household contacts.

The message is the same for people who have been tested and are waiting on results, which can take a number of days to come through.

"Socially isolate. Imagine or pretend it is the disease, assume that that's the diagnosis until you hear and even if you're waiting longer than you would like or we would like, assume the diagnosis is positive. Follow advice of public health doctors, isolate and your household contacts should also isolate".

"That is the measure that will interrupt and delay and slow the transmission of the virus in the population", he said.

If health officials do not see an impact of the current measures like social distancing to combat the virus, they "will not hesitate" to recommend further measures to Government.