Covid-19 Monday: one more death and 765 new cases

The Health Protection Surveillance Centre has this Monday been notified of one additional death related to COVID-19.

There has been a total of 2,205 COVID-19 related deaths in Ireland.

As of midnight on Sunday, December 27^th, the HPSC has been notified of 765 confirmed cases of COVID-19. There is now a total of 86,894 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ireland.

Of the cases notified today:

• 401 are men / 358 are women
• 70% are under 45 years of age
• The median age is 33 years old
• 291 in Dublin, 63 in Cork, 59 in Monaghan, 49 in Louth, 43 in Meath, and the remaining 260 cases are spread across all other counties.

As of 2pm today, 359 COVID-19 patients are hospitalised, of which 30 are in ICU. There have been 41 additional hospitalisations in the past 24 hours, with five additional admissions to ICU.

Dr Tony Holohan, Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health, said: ‘The data we are reporting today are lower than days up to December 26^th. This however results from factors related to the time of the year, such as the lower rates of attendance and referrals and presentation for testing for several days over Christmas.

‘We look at many metrics when monitoring the disease severity of COVID-19. Today we are reporting that we have now exceeded the cumulative number of people hospitalised in this third wave than in the second. Hospitalisations have increased sharply in the last two days. This is a concerning trend which reflects the sharp increase incidence we saw in the last 10 days.

‘We are also seeing a steep rise in the positivity rates in community testing with a seven-day average of over 9.2 percent up from 5.2 percent on December 18^th. This indicates that the virus is increasing its foothold out in our communities. This is just one more reason why we are strongly advising everyone to stay safely at home to avoid transmitting or catching this virus, as it continues to circulate widely.

‘Please come forward for testing if you feel unwell. Know the symptoms of COVID-19, and do not delay in phoning your GP for advice. Self-isolate in your room if you have a cough, fever, shortness of breath or change in sense of taste/smell. If you are a household contact of a confirmed case, restrict your movements until your household member receives a negative test result.

‘In addition to staying at home except for essential reasons, these important individual actions will help to stop the exponential spread of COVID-19 in our communities and in turn protect the most vulnerable, our healthcare system and those who work on the frontlines.’

The COVID-19 Dashboard provides up-to-date information on the key indicators of COVID-19 in the community.

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Today’s cases, 14-day incidence rate per 100,000 population and new cases in last 14 days (as of midnight 27 December 2020) (incidence rate based on Census 2016 county population)

The seven-day incidence is 140.

The five-day moving average is 949.

• To watch or listen to the Southern Star Coronavirus Podcast, please search ‘Coronavirus Podcast’ at the top right of this page or see the Southern Star on YouTube. This week’s podcast is a books special, called The Best Book I Read This Year. Presented by Star journalists Emma Connolly and Siobhán Cronin, guests sharing their book choices include Brian O’Donovan and Jacqui Hurley from RTÉ, film producer David Puttnam, authors Carol Drinkwater and Bibi Baskin, TD Michael Collins, former TD Jim Daly, and many more. And this week's music is a lovely tribute song to singer Kirsty MacColl, whose anniversary takes place at this time of year.
• You can subscribe to the Southern Star Coronavirus podcast which is available, in audio and video versions, on YouTube, Spotify, iTunes, or wherever you get your podcasts.