There have been 1,296 confirmed cases of COVID-19 reported by the Department of Health today, along with six additional deaths associated with the disease.
There have now been a total of 85,394 confirmed cases in the Republic of Ireland, and 2,200 COVID related deaths in the state.
“For the second day in a row we are reporting more than a thousand confirmed cases,” said Dr Tony Holohan, Chief Medical Officer.
“Within a few short weeks of easing measures at the beginning of December, we have now returned to the very high levels of COVID-19 circulating in the community that we have not seen since the peak of Wave Two of this disease. This is very concerning”.
“While today is a positive day with the arrival of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine (Comirnaty), it does not mean that we can relax our adherence to public health measures.”
“We must continue to stay at home, avoid social contact where possible, avoid visiting friends and family and not have visitors to our homes.”
“Our adherence to public health advice will remain our best defence against this disease and help us protect our vulnerable loved ones from the effects of COVID-19.”
While the first doses of the vaccine have begin arriving in Ireland, Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said that it will likely be May or June before mass vaccinations will be possible due to the low initial volume of doses available.
