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The rate of new coronavirus infections in Northern Ireland is now “significantly higher” than in the Republic of Ireland or the United Kingdom as a whole, the North Korea’s chief scientific officer warned.
On Friday, the number of cases per 100,000 in Northern Ireland over 14 days was 38.6, according to Professor Ian Young, compared to the European Center for Disease Control’s figure of 31.1 in the Republic and 23.2 in the UK.
Professor Young told The Irish Times that he had no “simple explanation” for the increased infection rate in the north, which had performed “much better” than the rest of the UK before the pandemic.
“In particular, I don’t know if our population is adhering less to restrictions than the population of England, Scotland and Wales, which is the obvious thing to think about, but it is very difficult to get accurate comparative data.”
However, while the figures for the North were currently higher than those for the Republic, he said the figures fluctuated and the outbreaks remained “broadly similar” on both sides of the border.
“We are both dealing with outbreaks associated with meat factories, we both see higher numbers of cases in the major urban settings, particularly Belfast and Dublin, and we both have a much lower incidence in some of the rural settings.”
Concerns have been raised throughout the pandemic that the existence of the border could hamper the fight against the coronavirus.
However, Prof Young said that the presence of the border had had little impact on spreading or fighting the virus, with the exception of the beginning of the outbreak of early “beneficial” changes in the behavior of some people in the north. . What he said was partly the result of the measures that had been introduced in the Republic.
International travel
With regard to international travel through Dublin, Professor Young said the impact had “been largely neutral. If people didn’t enter through Dublin, they would enter through London.
“The evidence we have from our testing, tracking and protection service is that only a very small proportion of our cases today are associated with travel, so we do not think it is a major factor at this time in terms of increased numbers. of cases. ”
There is also, he said, “very good communication and collaboration with our colleagues in the Republic,” with conversations taking place at least once a week, and contact tracing operating at the cross-border level.
The number of coronavirus cases in the North has increased tenfold since the beginning of July, and the majority of cases are now among the young. The reproduction rate – “R” – has been consistently above one since the beginning of August, and the figures for hospital admissions and bed occupancy have also increased.
Over the weekend, the Northern health department reported 138 new cases, bringing the total number of cases since the start of the pandemic to 7,187.
Professor Young said he was “concerned” by the increase in the number of cases, which he described as “steady and progressive and, if anything, accelerating”, and in particular in Belfast, where 134 cases have been identified in the last seven days.
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