[ad_1]
Three other people with Covid-19 have died, while another 324 cases of the virus were reported in the state, the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) said.
Thursday’s figures bring the total number of cases to 33,994 and the number of Covid-19-related deaths to 1,797.
Of Thursday’s cases, 167 are in Dublin, 42 in Donegal, 34 in Cork, 13 in Monaghan, 12 in Kildare, eight in Cavan, six in Limerick, Meath and Roscommon and five in Wicklow, with the remaining 25 cases in 11 counties. .
Some 169 of the cases were confirmed in men and 155 in women, while 64% were under 45 years of age.
Furthermore, 52% of the cases are confirmed to be associated with outbreaks or are close contacts of confirmed cases, while 81 cases have been identified as community transmission.
The HSE said it is working to identify any contacts that patients may have had to provide them with information and advice to prevent further spread.
Dr. Ronan Glynn, acting chief medical officer, said public health physicians are “finding more cases arising from people who are close contacts of confirmed cases and are not restricting movements.”
Remember that Covid-19 is highly contagious and you can be contagious without symptoms. If you are a close contact of a confirmed case, follow the guidelines on hse.ie and restrict your movements for 14 days: do not go to school or work, have no visitors at home, do not go to the store or pharmacy unless make it absolutely necessary. “
He added: “Take advantage of a trial when it is offered. Last week, one in 10 close contacts tested positive; many of them had no symptoms. “
Green list
Meanwhile, the Government’s green list of countries, to which the Irish can travel without having to restrict their movements upon return, has been updated again, removing seven countries.
As of Monday, only four countries – Cyprus, Finland, Latvia and Liechenstein – will be on the list. The seven countries that will be removed from the list on Sunday are; Cyprus; Finland; Germany; Iceland; Latvia; Lithuania and Poland.
With Covid-19 rates beginning to rise again in most European countries, the incidence in each of the seven countries has risen above the threshold of 25 cases per 100,000 population applied by Irish officials when establishing composition. from the list last week. .
Incidence rates
Earlier on Thursday, the Taoiseach has said that it is “imperative” that counties with a high number of new Covid-19 cases reduce the spread of the virus as soon as possible.
Micheál Martin said he was particularly concerned about the 18-35 year old cohort, especially with the return of tertiary universities.
He spoke as the latest 14-day Covid-19 incidence rates released in Dublin show an increase again after a one-day decline after two weeks of spikes in infections.
The incidence rate in Dublin stood at 140.3 cases per 100,000 people on Tuesday, up from 136.9 a day earlier, following a drop of 138 cases per 100,000 on Sunday.
Increases in incidence rates were again recorded in the worst affected areas of Dublin after the daily record of brief declines, according to the latest 14-day report from the Center for Health Protection Surveillance. The rate in northwest Dublin rose again above 200 cases per 100,000 people on Tuesday, reaching 200.3 cases, while southwest Dublin reached 152.3 cases, down from 146.7 cases. . Cases in south-east Dublin stood at 150.4 cases per 100,000, compared to 143.9. The national average was 73.9 cases per 100,000, compared to 70.7.
Donegal has the next highest number of cases for a county at 122.5 cases per 100,000, up from 106.2 the day before and an increase of more than double the 45.9 cases per 100,000 reported a week earlier.
Professor Philip Nolan, chair of NPHET’s Irish Epidemiological Modeling Advisory Group, said Wednesday night that it was “too early” to say that the spread of the disease had stabilized and that the 14-day cumulative infection rate had not it had risen so fast in the last few days. as it had last week.
He said at the NPHET briefing that it would be several days “or maybe another week” before it could be seen if the restrictions announced for Dublin last week were having any effect.
NPHET met on Thursday to examine the trends of the virus and also the impact of the additional restrictions imposed on Dublin last week.
Last night, the state’s acting medical director, Dr. Ronan Glynn, declined to speculate whether public health officials would recommend moving other counties where infections were high up to the Level 3 public restrictions currently imposed in Dublin.
However, he made specific warnings about rising infection rates in Donegal, Louth, and Waterford, along with parts of North Wicklow and East Kildare that border Dublin.
When asked by reporters at an event at Dublin’s Oliver Bond apartment complex on Thursday morning if he expected NPHET to recommend that other counties move to Level 3 restrictions, Martin said he would not pre-judge the advice that would be provided. to the Cabinet.
“The next 10 days will be critical. We are aware of counties like Donegal and Louth and others where the numbers are going in the wrong direction.
“I have been talking to the medical director and we are also concerned with large urban areas and cities in particular, Waterford, Cork, Limerick and Galway.
“The situation for those cities is critical for the next 10 days and the behavior has to change frankly.”
He also expressed concern about the concentration of new cases in the 18 to 35 age group, especially with the reopening of tertiary universities.
“It is imperative that action is taken collectively and individually, and in those particular locations to reduce and stabilize the numbers.”
Young people
Tánaiste Leo Varadkar also warned young people that they should be aware of the long-term health impact of Covid-19 and not think that they are immune to the significant health consequences of the virus.
Young people “can end up with a weak heart or lungs for the rest of their lives, so please don’t try to understand this,” she told RTÉ radio’s Today with Claire Byrne program.
Varadkar said that while there was still much to learn about Covid-19, what was clear was that it was not like the flu.
The coronavirus was much more infectious and dangerous, he said.
Referring to the 600 million euros allocated for the Winter Plan, a sum designed to help the health service cope with the additional pressures created by the pandemic, Varadkar said that only one percent of hospital beds are being used. currently for Covid-19 patients and that was before the 1,000 additional beds that would come into operation as part of the plan.
Even if the level of Covid cases worsened three times, he said, the health system would still not have problems, but he warned that things could get worse “much worse than three times worse.”
Answering questions about Ireland’s testing and tracing system, Mr Varadkar said that the Irish health system has conducted more tests per capita than Germany, Sweden and the UK.
Regarding tracing, and the fact that the Irish system only traces contacts within 48 hours, Mr Varadkar said it would never be possible to identify where each outbreak occurred.
Another area of concern is the rise in coronavirus infections among older people, as four times as many people over the age of 65 have contracted the disease than five weeks ago, state health officials said.
Professor Nolan issued stern warnings Wednesday night about the impact of rising infection rates in recent weeks.
“If we are starting to suppress the virus again, it is essential that we continue this effort: limit our social contacts, limit the mixing between households. The next 10 days are critical, ”he told reporters at the NPHET press conference.
He said it was “concerning” to report one or two daily admissions of people with Covid-19 to intensive care units and seven new hospital admissions on average over the past week. Most of the people admitted to the ICU were under 65 and “some are young,” he said.
“We started mixing more than was safe and in an unsafe way several weeks ago and the transmissions that happened then are catching up with us now,” said Professor Nolan.
234 new cases were reported on Wednesday, 103 of them in Dublin (44 percent), 30 in Donegal, 22 in Galway, 21 in Cork, 13 in Wicklow, 12 in Louth, nine Kildare and eight in Meath.
[ad_2]