Covid-19 Sunday: four more deaths and 744 new cases

The Health Protection Surveillance Centre has this Sunday (27^th) been notified of four additional deaths related to COVID-19.

There has been a total of 2,204 COVID-19 related deaths in Ireland.

As of midnight Saturday, December 26th, the HPSC has been notified of 744 confirmed cases of COVID-19 – a significant drop on the previous day’s 1,296 cases There is now a total of 86,129 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ireland.

Of the cases notified today:

• 388 are men / 354 are women
• 64% are under 45 years of age
• The median age is 34 years old
• 246 in Dublin, 131 in Cork, 51 in Limerick, 40 in Wexford, 33 in Donegal and the remaining 243 cases are spread across 19 other counties.

As of 8am today 324 COVID-19 patients are hospitalised, of which 26 are in ICU. 50 additional hospitalisations in the past 24 hours.

Dr Tony Holohan, Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health said: “We have seen a significant increase in the number of hospitalisations in the last two weeks from less than 190 to 324 today. This indicates a deteriorating disease trajectory nationally and is a significant reminder of the severity of this disease.”

“There have been further increases across key indicators of COVID-19 right across the country and the growth rate of the epidemic has accelerated in recent days.”

“Due to the lower volume of tests being carried out over Christmas Day and yesterday, we believe there are higher levels of disease circulating in the community than today’s reported case numbers reflect. We expect, therefore, to see a large increase in cases reported over the coming days.”

“If we do not act now to stop the spread of COVID-19, we will not be able to protect those in our society that are most at risk of serious illness or death.”

“Stay home, do not visit friends or family unless you are providing essential care and do not have visitors to your home. Follow the public health advice.”

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

Today’s cases, 14-day incidence rate per 100,000 population and new cases in last 14 days (as of midnight 26 December 2020) (incidence rate based on Census 2016 county population)

The seven-day incidence is 139.

The five-day moving average is 983.

• 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.