Five deaths and 227 new confirmed cases in Ireland

MORE 227 new cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed in Ireland, the National Public Health Emergency Team said tonight.

In a statement, it said that 5 other people who were confirmed to have Covid-19 had died.

The death toll from Covid-19 in Ireland is 2,102, and the total number of confirmed cases is now 74,900 *.

Ireland’s 14-day incidence rate per 100,000 population is 79.5 cases. Nine counties are above the national incidence rate: Donegal (227), Kilkenny (192), Louth (154), Limerick (136), Monaghan (124), Carlow (121), Wicklow (114), Dublin (94 ) and Tipperary (80).

As of 2:00 p.m. today, there were 224 hospitalized Covid-19 patients, of which 38 are in the ICU. There have been 14 additional hospitalizations in the last 24 hours.

Of the cases reported today:

• 98 are men and 129 are women
• 64% are under 45 years old
• The average age is 37 years.
• 70 in Dublin, 26 in Donegal, 19 in Limerick, 14 in Louth, 14 in Kilkenny, and the remaining 84 cases are spread across 17 other counties.

Medical Director Dr. Tony Holohan said: “Today we have seen 8 new ICU admissions, the most in a 24-hour period since spring.”

“Ireland has managed to reduce Covid-19 to the lowest incidence levels in the EU in recent weeks. We have managed to keep our behaviors safe and have worked to protect each other during the pandemic.

If we do not continue to suppress the disease through the actions we have learned in recent months, we will very quickly see an increase in infections that will lead to an increase in hospitalizations, ICU admissions and, tragically, deaths.

“We are actively planning to start vaccinating people in early 2021. We cannot afford to let our guard down now.”

Yesterday, the government released its provisional prioritization list for a Covid-19 vaccine. Top of the list are nursing home residents 65 and older, frontline health care workers, and people 70 and older.

The European Medicines Agency will meet on December 29, where it is expected to authorize at least one of the most promising candidate vaccines, and is expected to be rolled out in Ireland early in the new year.

* Validation of the data at the HPSC has resulted in the denotification of nine confirmed cases.

With information from Gráinne Ní Aodha