Covid-19 Wednesday: 13 additional deaths and 1,718 new cases

The Health Protection Surveillance Centre has this Wednesday been notified of 13 additional deaths related to COVID-19.

There has been a total of 2,226 COVID-19 related deaths in Ireland.

As of midnight Tuesday, December 29th, the HPSC has been notified of 1,718 confirmed cases of COVID-19. There is now a total of 90,157 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ireland.

Of the cases notified today;

• 853 are men / 863 are women
• 66% are under 45 years of age
• The median age is 34 years old
• 358 in Dublin, 164 in Cork, 155 in Louth, 150 in Donegal, 112 in Galway and the remaining 779 cases are spread across all other counties.

As of 2pm today 455 COVID-19 patients are hospitalised, of which 37 are in ICU. 60 additional hospitalisations in the past 24 hours.

Dr. Tony Holohan, Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health, said; ““Ireland is no longer in a containment phase and is once again in a mitigation phase. Given the current levels of transmission in the community, every individual should consider themselves potentially infectious.

“It is essential that we all limit our contacts to our own household now, restrict our movements and do not give COVID-19 any further opportunities to spread.

“Everyone needs to stay at home other than for essential work or care. This is not the time to be visiting other houses.”

Professor Philip Nolan, Chair of the NPHET Irish Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group, said; “The reproduction number remains very high and is currently estimated at 1.6 – 1.8. The growth rate is estimated to be 7-10% per day with a doubling time of 7-10 days.

“We must take action immediately to prevent an almost unimaginable scenario, where case numbers in 7 to 10 days time are twice what they are today. Stay home.”

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 29 December 2020) (incidence rate based on Census 2016 county population)

• 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.
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