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According to The Guardian, since mid-December, the virus has spread across Ireland at an unimaginable rate even in the darkest of scenarios. The case curve climbed higher and higher, and finally on January 11. In Ireland, COVID-19 infection rates have become the highest in the world.
That vertical green line is Ireland’s world leader in infections. pic.twitter.com/emhtNjIjy1
– Rory Carroll (@ rorycarroll72) January 11, 2021
In Ireland, COVID-19 was one of the lowest in Europe in December after six weeks of strict quarantine. Since then, however, the situation has begun to develop dramatically.
According to the online scientific publication Our World in Data from the University of Oxford, the country recorded the highest level of coronavirus infection in the world last week.
Statistics show that 1,323 COVID-19 cases per million people were recorded in Ireland in the seven days to January 10. That’s more than any other state has recorded in the same period, CNN notes.
January 8 Ireland has seen the largest increase in daily cases since the start of the pandemic, with 8,248 new cases, according to a report from the Irish Department of Health.
The explosion in the number of cases has shocked and baffled the government and the public, and the grim daily reports of new cases have been accompanied by various theories, interpretations and accusations, reports The Guardian.
“It’s a shocking thing,” said Sean L’Estrange, a Dublin University College social scientist who examines Ireland’s response to the pandemic.
“The alarming level of morbidity is unprecedented in our experience with COVID-19 in the community. We face many cases per day, and the number of hospital admissions is also something that we could not even think about before Christmas,” he warns Professor Philip Nolan, member of the National Public Health Emergency Team of Ireland (NPHET).
Irish medical experts, politicians and public figures are now debating where the mistake was made.
According to Prime Minister Micheal Martin’s press service, the seasonal spread of the virus, the emergence of a more contagious strain of the virus in the UK and the mixing of households during the holidays have contributed to the sharp increase in morbidity.
The increase in cases is not a simple phenomenon, there are many factors that led to such a situation, the prime minister’s press service said on Tuesday.
“Socialization has intensified during the Christmas period and our public health experts say that the seasonality of the virus is a crucial factor,” explained the press service.
December 4 Ireland has opened the leisure and entertainment sector, leaving some restrictions. In defending the decision, the prime minister’s spokesman assured that public health measures were “widely” respected in open areas, and that the spread of the virus in the leisure, entertainment, commerce and construction sectors was “relatively low.”
CNN writes that a more rapidly spreading strain of the virus from the UK, first detected in Ireland at Christmas, “had a particularly significant impact on the increase in cases, according to the prime minister’s press service, with a rate estimated infectivity of 50 to 70 percent. ” higher “.
More than 40 percent. The latest positive coronavirus cases have resulted in more contagious strains of the virus from the UK, Cillian De Gascun, director of the National Virus Research Laboratory, said in a statement Monday.
Ireland reported more cases per capita than any other country in the past week. @DaraDoy pic.twitter.com/AW8Yye15p9
– Sebastian Boyd (@Sebaboyd) January 11, 2021
As of December 18. In Ireland, one household was allowed to communicate with no more than two other households, although in other European countries it was decided to cancel Christmas gatherings.
According to data from the Department of Justice, in the period of December 21. until January 3. more than 54,000 people flew to Ireland. people.
“No properly regulated isolation system was working. Ireland and the UK are not successful islands in terms of COVID-19 compared to the others. The wish for normalcy at Christmas after a difficult year was understandable, but tell the virus” Gabriel Scally, director of CNN’s Royal Society for Epidemiology and Public Health, explained by phone Tuesday.
Restaurants, food pubs and some shops closed in Ireland on Christmas Eve. Restrictions have continued to tighten since then, including unnecessary construction, school closings and a ban on childcare services.
The new variety
The new strain of the virus is associated with 45 percent. the most recent cases of the virus investigated and confirmed. During the week to January 3. cases related to the new variety represented 25%. of all those established, and 9% in the previous week.
L’Estrange blames this situation on the government’s decision to ease restrictions and postpone decisive action before Christmas until December 10. the number of cases began to grow again.
“It was careless and crazy behavior. The government paid no attention to the obvious. Even [Borisas] Johnson eventually changed his mind and canceled Christmas in England. But ours have closed their eyes and plugged their ears. It is a weak and sentimental government that has decided to allow everyone to enjoy the festive bustle, “L’Estrange said.
According to L’Estrange, the test results suggest that the situation was out of control before the English strain of the coronavirus spread.
The healthcare system is loaded. Hospitals are facing an unprecedented crisis that could deepen even further in the near future.
“The alarming level of the disease is unprecedented. We have not yet had such an experience of the spread of COVID-19 among the population,” emphasized Ph. In a press conference on Monday. Nolan.
The number of COVID-19 patients in the hospital is doubling every week, bringing the entire system to a breaking point, according to the Irish Association of Hospital Consultants.
“We don’t know if the critical threshold will be reached beyond which we will find ourselves in a situation where doctors are forced to limit the care they provide. That would be a terrible thing for anyone who needs help, ”said Gabrielle Colleran of the Irish Association of Hospital Consultants.
Leterken University Hospital in County Donegal was busy for some time on Sunday. Patients had to queue to receive ambulances in ambulances. Some health experts fear that the number of COVID-19-related deaths will exceed 100 per day, well above the peak of the first wave last spring.
Irish Prime Minister Martin defended the decision to ease restrictions and dismissed allegations that the government had sent mixed messages promising a “meaningful” Christmas.
“We take responsibility, but we have always responded effectively to the rising waves,” said the prime minister. Martin’s undoubted combination of human socialization and a new strain of the UK virus has turned into a “perfect storm”. He encouraged people to wear the mask in public places.
The Prime Minister mentioned the encouraging signs that have emerged in recent days to suggest that the curve is beginning to flatten. The number of people becoming GPs is decreasing. It also decreases the percentage of positive tests and the number of close contacts infected.
Deputy Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said it could be several weeks before the number of people needing hospital treatment declines. “The situation is still deteriorating, it is likely to get worse,” Varadkar said.
As of Wednesday, there were 1,582 CPVID-19 patients in Irish hospitals, including 146 in the intensive care unit. At the peak of spring, that number was 155.
“It is known that a person enters the hospital several weeks after the confirmed case is reported, and death occurs some time later. And this means that, unfortunately, we are still waiting for the situation in hospitals to get worse, and only then will things start to improve, ”said medical director Tony Holohan in a statement released Monday.
In Ireland, 100,000. the population has only five beds in the intensive care unit. This is well below the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) average of 12, according to OECD data.
According to data provided by Johns Hopkins University, more than 155,000 people have registered in the country so far. COVID-19 cases and 2397 deaths.
In assessing the recent surge in cases, it is important to note that the tools that can address “this accelerating spread of the virus” are in the hands of Ireland, undoubtedly NPHET Irish Epidemiological Modeling Advisory Group Chair Ph. Nolan.
He added that it was disappointing that the existing measures “significantly slow the spread of the virus.”
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