Five more deaths, 720 new cases

by



[ad_1]

There have been 720 new coronavirus cases and five more Covid-related deaths reported to the Health Department.

This brings the total number of cases here to 58,767. This includes the denotification of 20 previously confirmed cases.

There have been a total of 1,890 Covid-19 related deaths in Ireland.

Currently, there are 341 people hospitalized with the virus and 38 of them are in ICU. There were 29 additional hospitalizations in the last 24 hours.

There have been 79 coronavirus-related deaths so far this month, and 32 of them have taken place in nursing homes.

This compares with 35 deaths in the entire month of September and five deaths in August.

Medical director Dr. Tony Holohan told a news conference that “we are not at a stage where we can draw any conclusion that there is a trend from fewer cases.”

Although there have been fewer than 1,000 cases a day for the past four days, “we definitely cannot say that we have turned that particular corner.”

When asked if the government should consider introducing fines for people who refuse to self-isolate after contracting Covid-19 or developing symptoms, Dr. Holohan said he feared this would only discourage people from introduce oneself.

He said the National Public Health Emergency Team’s weekly survey of people’s behavior, with 2,000 participants, has found high compliance with social distancing and hand washing.

Regarding staying home, 90% of people in April said they were staying home instead of going out, this dropped to 65% from July to September.

Since the beginning of October, there has been a significant upward trend in that metric: 81% of those surveyed now say they are staying home instead of going out.

Dr. Holohan said that 75% of people say they are sitting further apart from each other.

Of the cases reported today, 228 are in Dublin, 130 in Cork, 47 in Galway, 31 in Meath, 27 in Limerick and the
The remaining 257 cases are spread across 20 other counties.

The latest cases include 348 men and 371 women, and 65% are under 45 years of age. The average age of people who contract the virus is 32 years old.

The incidence rate of 14 days per 100,000 inhabitants for the country is 307.6. The areas with the highest Covid rates include Cavan (962.2), Meath (662.2), and Sligo (439.5).

Counties with the lowest rates include Tipperary (133.5), Wicklow (142.5), and Kilkenny (175.3).

The latest figures come when the Health Service Executive promised that within eight weeks 800 contact trackers will be hired to deal with Covid-19.

There are currently 550 employees working in HSE’s national contact tracing centers.

The positivity rate for Covid-19 tests in Ireland has dropped below 6%.

In the past seven days, 111,660 tests for the virus were completed and 5.7% of these tests were positive.

Deputy Medical Director Dr. Heather Burns told the press conference that there are specific avenues in terms of contract tracking in schools.

She says they are controlled environments and that there has been considerable “buy-in” when it comes to keeping schools open.

Meanwhile, a new vehicle-accessible Covid-19 test center has opened in Limerick with the capacity to perform up to 1,000 tests per day.

The HSE said the new testing facility at the former Wickes site in the East Point business park on Ballysimon Road is part of its drive to improve accessibility for testing in local communities.

In Northern Ireland, 722 people tested positive for Covid-19 in the last 24 hours. There were 13 more deaths, bringing the total death toll to 671.

Also today, Antrim Area Hospital warned that it is operating beyond its capacity due to the increase in the number of coronavirus patients.

Europe continues to see an increase in coronavirus cases and Sweden becomes the latest country to advise people to take stricter precautions against the risk of infection.



[ad_2]