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The HSE has confirmed that a single Covid-19 outbreak among students in the west of the country has led to more than 442 additional cases in more than 200 separate domestic outbreaks.
Speaking at tonight’s Department of Health briefing on Covid-19, HSE West’s Director of Public Health, Dr. Breda Smyth, outlined the details of how the virus spread.
Dr. Smyth said the initial outbreak was “quite large” and involved young adults between the ages of 16 and 24.
As of the end of yesterday, a total of 442 cases could be linked to that single outbreak.
Of those 442 cases, 179 were linked to multiple household groups, where multiple households were involved.
Of these, there were 20 groups in total, ranging from two to 42 cases each.
Dr. Breda Smyth, Director of Public Health in the West, provides details of an outbreak in the region among adults ages 18-24. As of yesterday, there were 442 cases associated with this outbreak. | Read more: https://t.co/2pelIO6aR6 pic.twitter.com/MjqaWiHXpP
– RTÉ News (@rtenews) March 4, 2021
Additionally, Dr. Smyth said, there were 145 outbreak-related cases in a single household, as well as another 118 confirmed cases.
In total, 224 households were affected by the initial outbreak.
Dr. Smyth said that in addition to spreading the infection in the community, there were knock-on effects in other areas, such as exposure to the virus, as well as transmission, in the hospitality and retail sectors.
She said at tonight’s briefing that a new cluster of infection was recorded in another part of the country, which was related to the initial outbreak.
He said the movement of youth through the region as a result of socialization was one of the main reasons for transmission, adding that house parties were also a factor.
Dr. Smyth also detailed the timeline for how the virus has spread since the first outbreak.
On the first day of the outbreak, there were two groups, four households, and four confirmed cases. On the second day, this turned into six groups, 12 households, and 15 cases.
At the end of week one, there were 16 clusters, 48 households, and 85 confirmed cases. By day 21, or week three, there were 20 clusters, 86 households, and 177 cases from the initial outbreak.
Dr Smyth said the key message to take from such a spread was to note how quickly the virus can be transmitted, with the new variant first identified in the UK, leading to around a third of domestic contacts of confirmed cases in Ireland test positive.
“If you show any symptoms of Covid-19, you should immediately isolate yourself in your room and call your GP,” he said.
“We know how to break the chains of transmission of this disease. We must all continue to do everything possible to limit our social contacts, stay home and be safe.”
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