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The coronavirus has risen in Ireland at an alarmingly fast rate and health officials say the situation is the worst since March.
The third wave of deadly bug has swiftly emerged across the country, forcing us all to return to the blockade over the Christmas period.
The country’s top doctor has urged everyone to reconsider their Christmas plans, as he warned that the virus is “increasing and increasing rapidly.”
Dr. Tony Holohan said: “Our level of concern continues to grow. We must do everything we can, individually and collectively, to change the course of this disease.
“Review your Christmas plans to ensure that social contacts are limited and that hand hygiene, physical distance, ventilation, and face covering are in place if you must have visitors in your home.”
In Dublin, several areas are showing alarmingly high rates of the highly infectious disease.
According to the latest figures from Ireland’s COVID-19 Data Hub, Balbriggan is the worst affected Local Electoral Area (LEA) with 216 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.
This is closely followed by Ongar in West Dublin with 173 cases per 100,000.
The worst affected areas are spread across the city, with Clondalkin (152.6), Pembroke (147.3) and South East Inner City (120.7) completing the top five.
At the other end of the scale, Ballyfermot-Drimnagh has the lowest infection rate at 43.4 per 100,000.
But that’s the only south side area with the best results, with Rush-Lusk (46.1), Clontarf (48), Ballymun-Finglas (58.2) and (60.1) rounding out the five least impacted LEAs.
However, the data only goes up to December 14 and with the R number increasing to between 1.5 and 1.8, the infection rate is likely to increase significantly in many parts of the capital.
And according to the virologist doctor and director of the National Virus Reference Laboratory, Dr Cillian De Gascun, it is highly likely that the new strain of the disease identified in the UK is now in Ireland.
He said: “Preliminary data would suggest, based on a selection of samples tested over the weekend, that the new UK variant is present in Ireland.
“However, given the chronology of the samples analyzed, it would appear that the new variant is not solely responsible for the recent increase in the number of cases seen in Ireland.”
Here is a summary of the latest cases per 100.00 in each LEA in the period 12/1/20 to 12/14/20:
| Zone | Cases per 100k |
| Balbriggan | 216 |
| Ongar | 173 |
| Clondalkin | 152.6 |
| Pembroke | 147.3 |
| Southeast City Center | 120.7 |
| Lucan | 101.7 |
| North of the inner city | 100.6 |
| South Tallaght | 95.9 |
| Artane-Whitehall | 93.8 |
| Castleknock | 93.2 |
| Palmerstown-Fonthill | 92 |
| Dundrum | 90.8 |
| Killiney-Shankill | 86.7 |
| Howth-Malahide | 83.7 |
| Rathfarnham-Templeogue | 83.5 |
| Central Tallaght | 83.3 |
| Black rock | 83 |
| Stillorgan | 81.9 |
| Firhouse-Bohernabreena | 81.9 |
| Goat-Glasnevin | 78.4 |
| Southwest of the inner city | 73.2 |
| Dun laoghaire | 72.1 |
| Swords | 72 |
| Kimmage-Rathmines | 71.6 |
| Glencullen-Sandyford | 71 |
| Blanch-mulhuddart | 68 |
| Donaghmede | 60.1 |
| Ballymun-Finglas | 58.2 |
| Clontarf | 48 |
| Rush-lusk | 46.1 |
| Ballyfermot-Drimnagh | 43.4 |
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