PUBLIC HEALTH OFFICIALS have reported a further 2,371 cases of Covid-19 in Ireland.
An additional 52 deaths have also been confirmed in the latest figures released this evening by the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET). 50 of these deaths occurred in January, NPHET said.
In total, 184,279 cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed in Ireland, along with 2,870 deaths.
At 2pm today, 1,931 Covid-19 patients were hospitalised, with 219 of these in ICU. There have been 78 additional hospitalisations in the past 24 hours.
Of today’s cases, 757 are in Dublin, 237 in Cork, 154 in Waterford, 123 in Wexford, 114 in Louth, and the remaining 986 cases are spread across all other counties.
Over half (57%) of today’s cases are in people under the age of 45.
In a statement, chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan urged people to stay the course with the current restrictions and public health advice to limit the spread of Covid-19.
He said: “We know that the ongoing restrictions are very challenging for people but, through the hard work and sacrifice of the vast majority of people, we are starting to see the first signs of a lower prevalence of the disease in the population. Strictly adhering to the public health measures is the key to making real progress in terms of flattening the curve and lowering the current trends in our hospitals and ICUs.
“The ‘Covid-19 find-test-trace-isolate’ process is vital to our efforts. Our data is telling us that for a third of people, it’s 4 days or more from the time they first experience symptoms of Covid-19 to the time they get tested. We all need to contact our GP as soon as symptoms occur, so we can trace our contacts and prevent further infections.
“This weekend, we need everyone to stay the course with hand washing, covering coughs, wearing face coverings and keeping a 2m distance. In order to take care of each other, we need all to stay at home, except for essential reasons, to minimise the spread of COVID-19 to ourselves and our loved ones.”
Deaths of people with Covid-19 are not reported in real time but may have occurred over a period of several days.
The number of deaths reported on a given day, therefore, does not necessarily mean that a person with Covid-19 died within the previous 24-hour period or even the preceding few days.
In the early days of the pandemic, Dr Holohan urged families, despite the difficulty, to register their loved ones deaths as early as possible so that health officials could gain an accurate picture of mortality.
Essentially, there is a delay between when a person dies from Covid-19 and the National Public Health Emergency Team being informed of their passing.
With reporting from Cónal Thomas
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