[ad_1]
Medical Director Dr. Tony Holohan has said that Covid-19 “has taken hold in all parts of the country” and that infection levels remain “too high.”
“This virus has taken hold in all parts of the country. A significant percentage of the population – more than one in 10 in some counties – is currently a case or a close contact. This is a huge burden of infection,” he said. Dr. Holohan said.
“When you consider that a significant percentage of our daily cases will lead directly to hospitalization and mortality, the urgency with which we must act is clear,” he said.
His comments come as the Health Department announced 60 more Covid-related deaths and 3,231 new cases of the virus.
“Case improvements are not happening fast enough. Too many people are still not complying as fully as we need to with advice. There are early indications that we may be stabilizing in terms of improvement, but at too high a level of infection.
“The UK variant is very likely to make our challenge more difficult. Follow public health advice. The safest place right now is your home. Please stay home,” said Dr Holohan.
Of the deaths reported today, 59 deaths occurred in January and one death occurred in December.
There have now been a total of 2,595 Covid-19 related deaths in Ireland.
The mean age of those who died was 85 years and the age range was 65 to 100 years.
A further 3,231 cases of the virus have been confirmed, bringing the total number of Covid cases in Ireland to 169,780.
Of the new cases reported today, 1,465 are men and 1,712 are women, 54% are under 45 years of age and the median age is 42 years.
Today’s cases breakdown is: 931 cases in Dublin, 388 in Cork, 238 in Louth, 155 in Waterford, 151 in Limerick, and the remaining 1,368 cases are spread across all other counties.
As of 2 pm today, 1,854 people were hospitalized with Covid-19, of which 191 are in the ICU.
In Northern Ireland, another 22 deaths from coronavirus have been recorded, 17 of them occurred in the last 24 hours. It takes the official toll of the Department of Health to 1,581.
Another 705 new cases have been confirmed. It brings the cumulative number of positive tests to 94,539.
There are 840 confirmed patients in the hospital, 62 in the ICU and 45 of them on ventilators.
The seven-day average infection rate per 100,000 in Northern Ireland is 374.7, the lowest since December 29.
The council area with the highest rate remains Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon at 623.8, followed by Mid Ulster at 575.5.
The lowest rate remains the North Down and Ards council area at 202.6.
In the Republic, the HSE executive director has said that the hospital system is tightening as the number of patients treated for Covid-19 increases.
Speaking Saturday with Katie Hannon, Paul Reid said: “We have formally entered surge capacity.
“We are seeing families and young people being treated. This virus affects everyone.
“In terms of beds, we now have 313 beds available, up from 285 before augmentation capacity.”
Meanwhile, around 1,800 front-line medical workers are receiving a Covid-19 vaccine as part of a targeted vaccination program this weekend.
We need your consent to upload this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage additional content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Review your data and accept it to load the content.Manage preferences
GPs and practice nurses are receiving their first dose of Moderna vaccine. It is the first time it has been used in Ireland.
Vaccination centers have been established in Dublin, Laois and Galway counties.
80 people investigated for lack of evidence upon arrival in Ireland
Meanwhile, new figures obtained by the RTÉ program on Saturday with Katie Hannon reveal that since travel restrictions from South Africa and the United Kingdom went into effect on January 9, approximately 80 cases in which passengers did not produce a result of PCR Covid have been investigated by the gardaí and in each case a file will be sent to the DPP.
The approximately 80 people who have had their case referred to the DPP represent less than 2% of the total cohort that has come to the state from Great Britain or South Africa since these regulations came into effect.
In many of these cases, the passenger would have booked their trip before the regulations went into effect and / or would not have been in a position to take advantage of a Covid test before the trip.
An Garda Síochána anticipates that as public awareness of these regulations increases, the level of non-compliance will decrease. For example, there were fewer than five cases referred to the DPP on Thursday, January 14.
[ad_2]