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The acting medical director has urged the public across the country to follow the lead of the people of Limerick in their efforts to reduce the spread of Covid-19.
Dr. Ronan Glynn’s comments come as new figures show that Limerick’s 14-day Covid-19 incidence rate has dropped for the second day in a row and is now close to half the national rate.
According to the latest data from the Center for Health Protection Surveillance, there were 75 confirmed cases of the disease in Limerick in the fortnight before Monday.
This equates to an incidence rate of 35.5 per 100,000 inhabitants, compared with a rate of 63.1 just over a week ago.
The 14-day rate nationwide is 70.7.
At a Health Department press conference on Wednesday, the acting medical director cited what has been accomplished in Limerick in recent weeks.
He told reporters that the trend in Limerick is an example of how the spread of disease can be successfully reduced.
“This week we are focusing in particular on Louth, Donegal, Waterford and the northern part of Wicklow and the east side of Kildare. We have seen an increase in cases in Cork, an increase in cases in Galway. Similarly, we have seen an increase in improvement in the situation in Limerick, an improvement in the situation in Tipperary, an improvement in the situation in Leitrim. These improvements happened because people responded to our advice. We are hopeful that we can see improvements again, “he added.
Meanwhile, the HPSC has also confirmed that two more people with Covid-19 have died. It means that there have now been a total of 1,794 Covid-19 related deaths in Ireland.
This Wednesday about 234 new cases of the disease have also been confirmed. It brings the number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in Ireland to 33,675.
It’s still unclear if any of today’s new cases are from Limerick, and the HPSC says 17 incidents are spread across 10 counties. These counties have yet to be confirmed.
103 of the current cases are in Dublin, 30 are in Donegal, 22 are in Galway, 21 are in Cork, 13 are in Wicklow, 12 are in Louth, nine are in Kildare and eight are in Meath.
Of the new cases, 115 are men and 119 are women. 68% are under 45 years old. Almost half have been confirmed to be associated with an outbreak or are close contacts of a confirmed case. 34 cases have been identified as community transmission.
The HSE is working to identify any contacts that patients may have had to provide them with information and advice to prevent further spread.
Commenting on the numbers, Dr. Glynn said: “The most important thing people across the country need to do now is reduce their social contacts. We must all reduce discretionary social activities. Knowing fewer people means fewer opportunities to transmit the virus. Please prioritize who you want to meet with and try to keep your social network as small as possible. “
Dr. Colm Henry, HSE Clinical Director, said: “At the beginning of this pandemic, we managed to flatten the curve through common purpose and solidarity. Now, we are faced with the most difficult task of suppressing the virus again while trying to protect education and healthcare environments.Whenever you reduce your contacts, avoid a crowd, or choose to gather outdoors, or remember to keep your distance, know that you are part of the front line protecting our doctors, nurses, health workers health and other staff working hard for all of us in the Irish healthcare system. “
Professor Philip Nolan, Chairman of the Irish Epidemiological Modeling Advisory Group of the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet), said: “While the 14-day incidence and daily incidence have stopped increasing in recent days, it is too early to conclude that there has been any change in the disease pattern, the number of reproduction in the last two weeks is still high, between 1.5 and 1.7, growth rate between 5 and 6.1 and time of doubling between 12 and 14 days.
“If we are starting to suppress the virus again, it is essential that we continue this effort: limit our social contacts, limit the mixing between households. The next ten days are critical,” he said.
Six new cases of Covid-19 were reported yesterday in Limerick, with no zero reported the day before. On Sunday, there were four new cases, while on Saturday five new cases were reported in Limerick.
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