104 new cases in May as rapid spread of virus continues



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The Center for Health Protection Surveillance has been notified today of 11 additional deaths related to Covid-19.

As of midnight on Thursday, December 31, 1,754 new confirmed cases have been reported to HPSC, bringing the total to 93,532.

Of the cases reported today:

846 are men / 900 are women

64% are under 45

the average age is 35 years

523 in Dublin, 296 in Cork, 180 in Galway, 104 in May, 94 in Kerry and the remaining 557 cases are distributed in all other counties.

At 2pm today, 504 Covid-19 patients were hospitalized, of which 47 are in the ICU.

In the last 24 hours, there were a total of 46 additional hospitalizations.

Dr. Tony Holohan, Medical Director, said: “The most worrying trend today is the increasing number of people entering the hospital; we now admit between 50 and 70 people a day in our hospital system.

“Unfortunately, we expect this to get worse before it gets better.

“Our healthcare system will not continue to face this level of shock.

“We’ve also seen a significant increase in positive lab tests in recent days, reflecting a real increase in the incidence of the disease, as well as the delay in people showing up for tests over the Christmas period.

“As our systems catch up with these effects, it puts significant pressure on our reporting system.

“We have always understood that the number of positive tests or confirmed cases would be a less reliable indicator during the Christmas period.

“This is typical of the annual infectious disease reports during the two weeks of Christmas and New Years.

“What is clear are the measures that the government has now mandated and the behaviors that we, as individuals, must observe. Everyone should stay home other than for essential jobs or care.”

Professor Philip Nolan, Chairman of NPHET’s Irish Epidemiological Modeling Advisory Group, said: “Tests processed and reported on a given day will normally be validated and confirmed by HPSC the next day.

“Positive tests detected in labs require validation (to remove duplicates and other tests that do not create new cases) and transferred to the HPSC database prior to confirmation and reporting.

“A large volume of positive tests in recent days means there is a delay in formal reporting.

“In the next few days more than 9,000 new cases will be reported.

“The delay in notification does not affect case management or contact tracing or our overall monitoring and modeling of the pandemic.”

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