There have been 35 additional deaths related to COVID-19 reported by NPHET today, along with 613 new confirmed cases.
Of today’s cases 26 are in Galway. The 14-day incidence rate here is now 315.4 per 100,000 people, and 814 cases have been reported in the past two weeks.
Today’s deaths occurred in people aged from 53 to 102 years old, and the average age of those who died was 85.
21 of these deaths occurred in February, 12 occurred in January, one took place last November, and one further death is under investigation.
As of 8am today, 591 COVID-19 patients are hospitalised in Ireland, of whom 138 are in ICU. Another 20 people have been hospitalised in the past 24 hours.
“We are making good progress and can see that many of the key indicators of disease levels in our communities are continuing to fall,” said Dr Ronan Glynn, adding, “This progress is the reason we are able to reopen our schools in a cautious and phased basis.”
“However, we must remember that COVID-19 is still circulating at a high level and, we are still seeing positivity rates of around 15% in the community.”
“As we see more of our children return to school next week, it is important that we continue to follow all of the public health guidance, including on the school run.”
There have now been a total of 217,478 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ireland, and 4,271 deaths related to the disease.
Of the cases notified today:
- 308 are men / 304 are women
- 66% are under 45 years of age
- the median age is 34 years old
- 224 in Dublin, 39 in Limerick, 37 in Meath, 34 in Westmeath, 33 in Offaly and the remaining 246 cases are spread across all other counties.
The COVID-19 Dashboard provides up-to-date information on the key indicators of the disease in the community.
Dr Lucy Jessop, Director, National Immunisation Office, said “In the last ten days, we have seen Ireland’s COVID-19 Vaccination Programme move into the community.”
“Many of us know family and friends who are among the almost 360,000 people to have been vaccinated in recent weeks. This is cause for great hope for all of us.”
“The vaccine is already having a significant impact on our healthcare workers. In the last week in January, almost 1,400 healthcare workers contracted COVID-19; that number was less than 300 last week.”
“This is wonderful news and clearly demonstrates the early impact the vaccination programme is having,” Dr Jessop said.
“However, even if you have received your COVID-19 vaccine, you must continue to wash your hands, wear a face covering, maintain a social distance and keep your close contacts to a minimum.”
