11 deaths and 1,754 new confirmed cases in Ireland

HEALTH OFFICIALS have reported 1,754 more Covid-19 cases in Ireland tonight and said more than 9,000 cases will be reported in the coming days.

Another 11 people with the coronavirus have also died, according to the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET).

This brings to 2,248 the total number of people with Covid-19 who have died in Ireland and 93,532 total confirmed cases of coronavirus.

The latest figures were released as health officials warned that Ireland’s epidemiological situation is dire and that the virus is spreading rapidly among all age groups.

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.

As of 2:00 p.m. today, 504 COVID-19 patients are hospitalized, of which 47 are in the ICU. 46 additional hospitalizations in the last 24 hours.

Dr. Tony Holohan, Medical Director of the Department of Health, said: “The most worrying trend today is the rapid increase in the 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 impact.

“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 notification during the two weeks of Christmas and New Years.

“What is clear are the measures that the Government has now ordered and the behaviors that we, as individuals, must observe. Everyone needs to stay home, except 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 laboratories 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. Over 9,000 new cases will be reported in the coming days. The delay in notification does not affect case management or contact tracing or our overall monitoring and modeling of the pandemic, ”he said.

The following table has been included by the Health Department today to show both positive tests and confirmed cases in the last 14 day period.

Typically, the number of confirmed cases reported on a given day is correlated with the number of positive tests the day before, allowing for validation and de-duplication.

Source: Department of Health

Once any delays that have arisen in the past few days have been resolved, NPHET will no longer report lab test results.

Speaking to RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, HSE CEO Paul Reid today warned of significant challenges facing the healthcare service as widespread community transmission of the virus takes hold across the country.

He added that 25,000 people are expected to be vaccinated by the end of next week.

“I have no doubt that 2021 will be a much brighter year [than 2020]”He told the show, describing the start as” not very good. “