21 DEAD IN ONE NURSING HOME

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- SYLVIA POWNALL and IAN MANGAN

CORONAVIRUS-LINKED deaths claimed 21 people in one Dublin nursing home in the space of three weeks, it emerged last night.

Residents at St Mary’s Centre in the Phoenix Park are passing away at a rate of one a day as Covid-19 sweeps through the care home.

Grim news of the cluster of fatalities emerged as the National Health Protection Surveillance Centre yesterday confirmed 52 more deaths, bringing the national toll to 1,063.

The surveillance centre also revealed 377 new cases, bringing the national total to 18,561 with 4,847 frontline medical workers now infected.

Health Minister Simon Harris extended his sympathies to the victims, their families and staff at the HSE-run centre, which is the largest facility of its kind in the country.

He said: “When you work in a long-term care facility you really get to know the residents, in a way they become your second family.

“In such a short space of time for so many residents to have passed away... I cannot imagine how traumatic that has been.”