Four deaths and 744 new confirmed cases in Ireland

MORE 744 new cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed in Ireland, the National Public Health Emergency Team said.

Due to a drop in the number of people requesting Covid-19 testing in the past two days, there are expected to be more cases in the community than current figures reflect.

Only 3,364 Covid-19 tests have been performed in the previous 24 hours, compared to 105,955 tests in the last 7 days (an average of 15,136 tests per day).

In a statement, NPHET said that four other people who were confirmed to have Covid-19 had died.

The death toll from Covid-19 in Ireland is 2,204, and the total number of confirmed cases is now 86,129 *.

Of the cases reported today:

• 388 are men, 354 are women
• 64% are under 45 years old
• The average age is 34 years.
• 246 in Dublin, 131 in Cork, 51 in Limerick, 40 in Wexford, 33 in Donegal and the remaining 243 cases are spread over 19 other counties.

At 8 am today, 324 Covid-19 patients are hospitalized, of which 26 are in the ICU. There have been 50 additional hospitalizations in the last 24 hours.

Medical Director Dr. Tony Holohan said: “We have seen a significant increase in the number of hospitalizations in the last two weeks from less than 190 to 324 today. This indicates a deterioration in the disease trajectory nationwide and is a significant reminder of the severity of this disease.

“There have been further increases in key Covid-19 indicators across the country and the growth rate of the epidemic has accelerated in recent days.

Due to the lower volume of testing that was conducted on Christmas Day and yesterday, we believe there are higher levels of disease circulating in the community than reflected by the case numbers reported today. Therefore, we expect to see a large increase in reported cases in the coming days.

If we do not act now to stop the spread of Covid-19, we will not be able to protect those in our society who are most at risk of serious illness or death.

“Stay home, don’t visit friends or family unless you are providing essential care and have no visitors in your home. Follow public health advice. “

There was a record 1,296 confirmed cases yesterday, and medical director Dr. Tony Holohan warned that community transmission is now as high as it was during the second wave of the disease, before level 5 restrictions were imposed during six weeks.

The first delivery of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine against Covid-19 arrived in Ireland yesterday. HSE chief Paul Reid announced this afternoon that the launch of the Covid-19 vaccine in Ireland would begin on Tuesday, a day earlier than expected.

* Data validation at the HPSC has resulted in the denotification of 9 confirmed cases.