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The median age of the new confirmed Covid-19 cases last week, 30 years old, is the lowest level since numbers were recorded during the pandemic.
New figures released by the Central Statistical Office indicate that more than half of all new confirmed cases in the week ending August 21 were among people under the age of 30 for the first time.
CSO figures also reveal that the average number of contacts per positive case among young adults has become significantly higher than in other age groups.
While there was very little difference in the number of contacts in different age categories in May, the CSO said the situation has changed in recent months.
A contact analysis from HSE’s Covid Care Tracker system shows that the average number of contacts per case has more than doubled in the last three months.
The average number of contacts per positive case was more than six in the week ending August 14, compared to less than three in May.
However, the number of young people aged 15 to 24 who tested positive for Covid-19 is an average of more than 11 contacts.
On the contrary, the average number of contacts for positive cases among those over 80 years of age has remained stable at just over two.
Figures from CSOs show that there have been more than 600 new cases in each of the three weeks through August 21 with more than half of all cases linked to an outbreak or cluster.
The number of new weekly cases in Dublin surpassed 150 in the past two weeks for the first time since May.
According to the CSO, Dublin and Kildare account for nearly three-fifths of all new cases, with 361 people in the two counties confirmed with Covid-19 last week.
Fewer than ten cases have been reported per week for at least the last 14 weeks in Mayo, Westmeath, Leitrim, Longford and Kerry.
Waterford has gone 17 weeks in a row in which the number of new cases is also less than ten a week.
The CSO said that the number of people who have died from Covid-19 has been below ten a week for the past eight weeks.
To date, the total number of people who died from the virus stands at 1,525 with another 251 cases cited as a probable death related to Covid-19.
About 65 percent of all confirmed Covid-19-related deaths to date have occurred among people aged 80 and over.
More than a third of the 28,036 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the Republic to date are in the age group of 25 to 44 years.
Health workers continue to account for almost a third of cases.
A total of 15 people were hospitalized with Covid-19 in the week ending August 21 compared to a peak of 666 at the end of March.
During the past 14 weeks, fewer than five people have been admitted to an intensive care unit with the virus.
About 53 percent of all cases to date have been related to an outbreak that is defined as two or more cases in the same place and time.
Hospitals, residential institutions and nursing homes have accounted for 57% of all confirmed cases related to an outbreak.
The workplace now accounts for 12 percent of outbreak cases, up from 3 percent in mid-April.
Last week, nearly three-quarters of all cases linked to an outbreak were among those under 45.
The CSO said the latest figures indicate a trend of movement of cases from cities to independent urban towns.
He also highlighted an increase in the proportion of new cases in recent months in areas that had high rates of dependence on welfare and where the average family income was between € 40,000 and € 50,000, but a decrease in areas where the average income was higher than € 60,000.
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