Covid-19 Sunday: four more deaths and 764 new cases

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

There has been a total of 2,158 COVID-19 related deaths in Ireland.

As of midnight on Saturday, December 19^th , the HPSC has been notified of 764 confirmed cases of COVID-19. There is now a total of 79,542* confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ireland.

Of the cases notified today;

• 403 are men / 355 are women
• 67% are under 45 years of age
• The median age is 34 years old
• 284 in Dublin, 70 in Limerick, 52 in Donegal, 44 in Cork, 37 in Wexford and the remaining 277 cases are spread across another 20 counties.

As of 2pm today 233 COVID-19 patients are hospitalised, of which 29 are in ICU. 15 additional hospitalisations in the past 24 hours.

Dr Tony Holohan, Chief Medical Officer, the Department of Health said: “Every indicator of disease severity is moving in the wrong direction, more rapidly than we had anticipated. We have particularly strong concerns about the prospect of inter-generational mixing around the festive season.

"On 11th December the 7-day incidence rate for people aged 19-44 was 106 per 100,000 population, by yesterday this rate had more than doubled to 217 per 100,000. If these younger people come into contact with their loved ones over the age of 65, we could see a spike in infections in this more vulnerable group. This would lead to very a serious pattern of disease, hospitalisations, ICU admissions and unnecessary deaths.

“If you have been socialising in the past few weeks or over this weekend, consider your Christmas plans carefully. Is it responsible to meet with your family over 65 later this week, if you have not kept your contacts low? Should you cancel your plans? We have the very real prospect of COVID-19 vaccines on the horizon.

'Ensure that your loved ones stay alive to receive them, by keeping your distance from them if you have not restricted your movements to this point. As difficult as it may seem, staying away from older family this Christmas will protect them - and it would be an exceptional sacrifice made for the common good.”

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

*Validation of data at the HPSC led to the reclassification of 2 cases as confirmed. The figure of 79,542 cases reflects this.

Today’s cases, 14-day incidence rate per 100,000 population and new cases in last 14 days (as of midnight 19 December 2020) (incidence rate based on Census 2016 county population)

The seven-day incidence rate is 70.9. 

The five-day moving average is 557.

• 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.