264 new cases and two more deaths

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There have been 264 new cases of Covid-19 reported by the Department of Health. This brings the total number of cases to 76,449.

There have been two more deaths related to Covid-19, bringing the total death toll to 2,126.

Of the cases reported today, 128 are men and 134 are women, 65% are under 45 years of age and the median age is 36 years.

Today’s breakdown of cases is: 79 in Dublin, 24 in Donegal, 19 in Kerry, 18 in Limerick, 14 in Kildare, 14 in Wexford, and the remaining 96 cases are spread across 16 other counties.

As of 2 p.m. today, 215 people are being treated in the hospital for Covid-19. 33 of them are being treated in intensive care units, an increase of two since yesterday.

In Northern Ireland, another five deaths from coronavirus have been recorded, bringing the official Health Department number to 1,129.

There are also 419 new cases. Brings the cumulative total of cases to 58,635.

There are 429 confirmed Covid-19 patients in northern hospitals, 31 in the ICU, 24 of which are connected to ventilators.

The executive director of the Health Products Regulatory Authority has said that many factors have come together to increase the pace of development of Covid-19 vaccines.

Addressing the National Public Health Emergency Team briefing tonight, Dr. Lorraine Nolan said these include a combination of targeted and unprecedented public and private sector funding, recent developments in vaccine technology, and a consolidated cycle. of product development and manufacturing.

She said that instead of regulatory oversight happening at the end of this process, this has happened in parallel.

All of these factors, he said, are facilitating the timely and continued development of safe and effective vaccines in record time.

He said the European Medicines Agency aims to conclude its evaluation of the safety, efficacy and quality of the Pfizer vaccine on December 29.

It will then be provided to the European Commission, which will grant an EU-wide authorization.

Regarding the Moderna vaccine, a recommendation from the EMA is expected on January 12.

He said it was important for the EMA to conduct a thorough scientific evaluation of these vaccines.

He said that while we have accelerated the regulatory process, it is important to emphasize that there will be no compromise on the detailed and comprehensive nature of scientific scrutiny. She said she won’t lower the bar on this.

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The medical director said that despite the drop in the number of Covid-19 cases here since yesterday, there is still a change in the pattern of the virus and that we are in a “growing situation.”

Dr. Tony Holohan said the virus’s five-day average has risen slightly to 312 per 100,000.

He said that while the daily numbers have dropped, the basic message remained to limit social interactions between now and Christmas and to choose between activities that are now possible to limit the spread of the virus.

“It is really important that people minimize the amount of interactions with other people and really select among all the things that can be done and choose those that, so to speak, are essential, in particular if they plan to meet with people during Christmas that they fall into the underlying medical risk categories, “said Dr. Holohan.

Dr Holohan said that health experts are concerned about travel during the Christmas period causing an increase in cases in Ireland.

He said the infection rates in Europe and other countries with which we have a close travel relationship is “very, very high” and so the advice is to ask people to avoid all non-essential travel in and out of the country.

He said that there is no accumulated level of immunity in the population that prevents us from facing the same waves of infection that other countries in Europe are experiencing right now.

NPHET was notified today of a new strain of the virus identified in the UK.

The deputy chief medical officer said it is too early to say whether the variant has been seen in this country, as there is very little information about it.

But Dr. Ronan Glynn said that NPHET is interested in learning more about this development.

Earlier today, the Taoiseach said that the launch of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine will begin a week after its expected approval by the European Medicines Agency.

The EMA is expected to give its decision on December 29 and Micheál Martin said that once that happens he hopes that the deployment will begin in the next week, starting with residents of nursing homes and health personnel.

However, he warned that “‘we cannot let our guard down” on Covid-19 because a vaccine is on the horizon and further restrictions may be introduced in January.



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