There have been three additional deaths related to COVID-19 reported by the Department of Health today, along with 1,205 new confirmed cases.
Of today’s cases 97 are in Galway, almost double the level reported yesterday, and the fourth highest number in the country behind Dublin (288), Cork (173), and Meath (123).
There have now been a total of 46,429 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the country, and the pandemic has claimed 1,838 lives.
There were 29 patients in the ICU as of 2pm today, out of 241 hospitalised with COVID-19. In the past 24 hours there have been 24 people hospitalised.
“There has been further increases across all key indicators of COVID-19 and the growth rate of the epidemic has accelerated since NPHET last met,” said Dr Tony Holohan, Chief Medical Officer.
The number of cases notified in the past seven days is 82% higher than the week prior he said, and the positivity rate in the past week is now 6.2%, and continuing to rise.
The 14-day incidence rate for people over the age of 65 has also climbed from 92.9 to 125 per 100,000 since October 7.
“The number of hospitalisations are increasing faster than the exponential growth modelling predicted. This indicates a rapidly deteriorating disease trajectory nationally,” Dr Holohan warned.
The COVID-19 Dashboard provides up-to-date information on the key indicators of COVID-19 in the community.
Of the cases notified today:
- 614 are men / 590 are women
- 71% are under 45 years of age
- the median age is 34 years old
- 288 in Dublin, 173 Cork, 123 in Meath, 97 in Galway 63 in Cavan and the remaining 461 cases are spread across all remaining counties
“Our priorities remain focused on protecting the medically and socially vulnerable, protecting childcare and education settings and preventing unnecessary disruption to non-COVID health and social care services,” said Dr Ronan Glynn, Deputy Chief Medical Officer.
Dr Colm Henry, Chief Clinical Officer with the HSE, warned that the challenge is far greater than earlier this year, as they are trying to manage the COVID situation, while also continuing other healthcare services.
“The higher the community transmission the more difficult it is to protect medically vulnerably people in all heathcare settings. We appeal to everyone to play their part in protecting patients, healthcare workers and frontline services.”
