Three deaths and 1,066 cases as the 14-day national incidence rate reaches a new high

The Health Protection Surveillance Center (HSPC) has been notified of three additional Covid-related deaths.

The death toll in the Republic now stands at 1,871.

The HPSC has been notified of 1,066 new cases, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 54,476 after the denotification of 12 confirmed cases.

Of the current cases, 244 are in Dublin, 104 in Galway, 98 in Cork, 92 in Meath, and the remaining 528 are spread across all other counties.

The 14-day national incidence rate per 100,000 has exceeded 300 for the first time.

At 2pm this afternoon, there are 313 Covid-19 patients in the hospital and 20 of those admitted in the last 24 hours.

The number of people in the ICU is from three to 37.

Medical Director Dr. Tony Holohan reminded people that the country has been subjected to level 5 restrictions because the disease is at very severe levels in the country and poses a “significant risk” to public health.

“We all need to stay home, except for essential jobs and exceptional circumstances.

“If you are a confirmed case isolating yourself at home, if you are a close contact of a confirmed case, restrict your movements at home, if you experience symptoms or think you are a close contact, restrict your movements and communicate with your GP. “

Deputy Medical Director Dr. Heather Burns said the national 14-day incidence rate has increased significantly in recent months.

“The incidence of 14 days was 3 per 100,000 at the end of June, today it is 302 per 100,000 inhabitants.

The risk of being exposed to Covid-19 is now 100 times higher than four months ago.

“Please limit your risk by staying home and following public health advice.”

Professor Philip Nolan, president of Nphet, said that the reproduction number is 1.3-1.4 nationally.

“Our collective goal now is to suppress the transmission of the virus and bring our number of cases to manageable levels.

“If we work hard together to get the breeding number to 0.5, we should be able to reduce cases to less than 100 per day in six weeks.”

HSE Clinical Director Dr. Colm Henry said that each individual has a role to play in reducing community transmission and protecting vulnerable groups.

“Based on our experience, widespread community transmission results in the spread to vulnerable groups in congregated settings.

The most effective measure to protect vulnerable groups, including nursing homes, is to significantly reduce community transmission.

Today, the Taoiseach says it is “unwilling” to introduce curfews as part of efforts to stop the spread of Covid 19.

Level 5 restrictions have gone into effect across the country today.

It means that many stores have to close and people cannot travel more than 5 kilometers from their home unless it is for essential reasons.

Some cities around the world have introduced curfews to keep people at home.

Taoiseach Michael Martin says it is not being considered here at this time.

“I don’t see that. Other countries are doing things differently, before curfew they would have activities that we will not have.

“So I am not willing to adopt that concept from now on, but I am always listening to the latest research.”

In the meantime, HSE has said it will spend the next six weeks making sure the contact tracing system is fully fit for purpose.

Between 65 and 75 new contact trackers will start working each week for the next period.

The HSE insists that it does not intend to ask positive cases to re-trace their own contacts.

The HSE leader for testing and tracking Niamh O’Beirne says they just didn’t have enough staff last weekend.

“What happened on August 8 is that we went from 500 to thousands, that’s when a real exponential growth was unleashed.

“We had trackers that could make 800 out of 900 calls per day, but when that jumped and then started to keep increasing from that point, we had to make some changes in terms of what we were doing.”