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The Medical Director has said that the National Public Health Emergency Team is very concerned as more than 44,000 new cases of Covid-19 have been reported in the last two weeks.
However, NPHET said that the restrictions imposed since Christmas are beginning to take effect and urged people to maintain and redouble their efforts to contain the virus.
Yesterday, the Department of Health was notified of ten more deaths related to the coronavirus and 6,521 new cases of the disease.
The 14-day incidence is now 936.4 per 100,000 nationally. On average, 23,000 tests are performed per day, the highest level yet, with a 21% positivity rate.
The counties with the highest rates include Monaghan (1,819.6), Louth (1,637.1), and Limerick (1,399.2). The lowest spread of infection is found in Wicklow (471.1.), Tipperary (487) and Leitrim (505.6).
Dr Tony Holohan said that the presence of the newer and more communicable variant of the disease, first discovered in the UK, has contributed to the higher numbers.
NPHET has signaled two tentative but optimistic signs that offer hope that the rapid growth in the level of infections in recent weeks is stabilizing.
The first is that the proportion of people testing for the virus may have stopped rising, although positivity is still around 20%.
The second is that the number of close contacts of each person who tested positive has dropped dramatically, from 4.8 at the beginning of last week to just 3 now.
The chair of the NPHET Ireland Epidemiological Modeling Advisory Group, Professor Philip Nolan, cautioned that these were very little cause for optimism and that we still have a long way to go.
Professor Nolan and his team have lowered their projection for the number of Covid-19 patients in the hospital in mid-January to a high of 2,200, which is down from the 2,500 projected earlier this week.
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Meanwhile, the medical director of a private hospital in Dublin has said that an agreement between the state and some private hospitals to be finalized later today is more specific than the original agreement.
Both the Government and the Health Services Executive have said that the facilities are likely to be necessary due to the increase in patients with Covid-19.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Dr. Mike Allen of the Hermitage Clinic in West Dublin said the hospital will sign the agreement.
He said the deal appears more measured than one agreed last year during the first wave of the coronavirus, as it selects the patients who are most time-critical.
Dr. Allen said there are other life-threatening conditions in addition to Covid-19 and other hospitals are under pressure and busy, so it is very important to relieve pressure on staff.
On the other hand, non-essential construction should cease tonight until at least the end of the month, as part of the restrictions introduced on Wednesday to slow the spread of the third wave.
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