There have been more COVID-19 cases reported in Galway in the past fortnight than in almost the first seven months of the pandemic combined.
There have been 1,651 confirmed cases of COVID-19 reported in Galway in the two weeks up to midnight on Thursday, January 7.
Compared with that, it was only on October 19 of last year that the cumulative total of cases in Galway reached 1,676.
The past week has seen Galway hit record daily figures on multiple occasions. Yesterday there were 220 new case in Galway, almost 40 higher than the previous record of 184 cases on Thursday.
The overall 14-day incidence rate in Galway now stands at 639.8 cases per 100,000 people.
The first cases of the new South African variant of COVID-19 have been identified in Ireland Dr Tony Holohan said on Friday.
“All of the cases identified are directly associated with recent travel from South Africa. Anyone who has travelled from South Africa recently is advised to self-isolate for 14 days and identify themselves through a GP for testing as soon as possible.”
“We are particularly advising healthcare workers travelling from South Africa, that it is essential that they self-isolate for 14 days before entering/re-entering the workplace.”
“While this variant has not yet been identified in many European countries we believe the identification here reflects the extent of genome sequencing surveillance in Ireland.”
