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There have been nine more deaths and 1,546 new cases of Covid-19 reported in the Republic tonight.
The figures bring the total number of new confirmed cases on the island on Tuesday to more than 3,000, as another 14 deaths and 1,566 cases of the disease were reported in Northern Ireland.
Of the cases reported tonight, 66% are under 45 years old with a median age of 34 years.
There are 444 cases located in Dublin, 203 in Cork, 111 in Louth, 87 in Limerick, 85 in Donegal and the remaining 616 cases are spread across all other counties.
The number of people hospitalized with the virus has soared to new highs in recent days, surpassing the number admitted during the second wave of the virus experienced in early fall.
On Tuesday, the number of people hospitalized in the Republic surpassed 400 for the first time since May, with 411 people hospitalized and 34 in intensive care at 2:00 p.m.
Amid this sharp increase from the 360 hospitalizations reported on Monday, the Cabinet is scheduled to hold an unscheduled meeting on Wednesday to decide whether to implement a “March-style” total lockdown to control “exponential growth” in cases.
Ireland’s medical director has raised concerns about the continued rise in the number of cases and hospitalizations, saying that Covid-related indicators have risen despite fewer people attending tests over the Christmas period.
Dr. Tony Holohan had recently warned that there are higher levels of Covid-19 circulating in the community than recent case numbers reflect, due to the lower volume of testing that takes place over Christmas.
A further increase in cases is expected in the coming days, with GPs noticing a 65 percent increase in referrals for Covid-19 testing in the last week.
Next week
Roughly 25,000 referrals made during the first week of December had risen to 70,000 by the fourth week, according to the Irish College of General Practitioners (ICGP).
“We are going to see the impact of socializing before and during the Christmas period. That will affect the numbers in the next week to 10 days, ”said ICGP Covid leader Dr. Nuala O’Connor.
Ireland
March-style lockdown can be implemented on days of …
The HSE chief had said he expected Tuesday’s case numbers to be double the previous day’s, as 765 new cases were confirmed Monday night.
Paul Reid said that a growing number of people were not responding to calls from Covid-19 contact trackers in a “concerning trend.”
It occurs when this afternoon the first injection of a vaccine was administered in the Republic to protect against the disease, which marks a new milestone in the pandemic.
Ireland could provide a Covid-19 vaccine to everyone in the country who wants one by August in a “pretty positive scenario,” a senior official in charge of vaccine implementation said Tuesday.
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