LAST UPDATE | 24 Dec 2020

A FURTHER 922 new cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed in Ireland, the National Public Health Emergency Team has said this evening.

In a statement, it said that a further 8 people with Covid-19 have died.

There have now been 2,192 deaths in Ireland linked with Covid-19, along with 83,073* cases of the virus.

Of the cases notified today:

• 438 are men, 477 are women
• 68% are under 45 years of age
• The median age is 33 years old
• 337 in Dublin, 73 in Cork, 70 in Limerick, 56 in Wexford, 43 in Galway and the remaining 343 cases are spread across all other counties.

As of 8am today, 255 Covid-19 patients are hospitalised, of which 22 are in ICU. 37 additional hospitalisations in the past 24 hours.

 Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan said: “Unfortunately, none of the indicators of this disease are showing encouraging signs.

“This Christmas, the best present you can give your loved ones is to strictly adhere to the public health advice.”

Make your Christmas safe, meaningful and memorable for the right reasons. Stay home, stay safe and stay well. Limit contact as much as you can and ensure you and your loved ones have a happy and safe Christmas.

*Validation of data at the HPSC has resulted in the denotification of four cases.

NPHET’s stark warnings

During a briefing at the Department of Health yesterday, public health officials made a number of stark warnings about Ireland’s current epidemiological situation.

Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr Ronan Glynn said the current epidemiological situation is “the most serious it has been since last March”.

Dr Cillian De Gascun said that “preliminary data” suggests that the new UK Covid-19 variant has been identified in Ireland for the first time – but is not “solely responsible” for the dramatic increase in cases over the past week.

Yesterday there were 938 cases confirmed, and on Tuesday there were 970. On Monday there were 727 new cases confirmed, on Sunday there were 764 cases, on Saturday there were 527 cases, and on Friday there were 582 new cases. Last Thursday there were 484 cases.

The Government received advice from NPHET yesterday to close non-essential retail from St Stephen’s Day, but there are no plans to introduce further restrictions before Cabinet meets again next Tuesday, 29 December.