PUBLIC HEALTH OFFICIALS have confirmed 1,466 new cases of Covid-19 in Ireland this evening.
Additionally, 47 more people have died in Ireland with the virus.
To date, there have been 192,645 confirmed cases of Covid-19 with 3,167 deaths reported.
There were 1,567 people with Covid-19 in hospital, and 216 in ICU, at 2pm today.
So far this month, 878 deaths have been reported in people with Covid-19.
Health officials warned this evening of a high incidence of the virus in nursing homes and among vulnerable groups.
In a statement, chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan said: “Incidence is falling but remains high. It is positive to see numbers of people hospitalised reducing and a stabilisation of numbers in ICU.
“However, we are continuing to experience high mortality with 878 deaths so far in January. I am concerned about the high incidence we are seeing in long-term care settings and vulnerable groups. Our efforts to stay home and break transmission of the disease will save lives. Please continue to follow the public health advice and support each other to keep going.”
Professor Philip Nolan, who chairs NPHET’s Irish Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group, said this evening that incidence of the virus and hospitlaisations are falling, and that the R number is now estimated at 0.4-0.7.
He said: “We are maintaining an extraordinary effort but still we have a long way to go. We must maintain full suppression for several weeks if we are to achieve strategic options for the future. If we keep this up, we would be down to 200-400 cases per day by the end of February.”
Yesterday, health officials confirmed 54 deaths and 1,335 cases of Covid-19 in Ireland.
Around 3% of the population have now been vaccinated against Covid-19, Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly told the Dáil today. Frontline healthcare workers have received 89,900 doses, including 76,100 first doses. A further 71,600 doses have been given in long-term residential care facilities.
Residents in four nursing homes out of 589 have not yet been vaccinated due to outbreaks of Covid-19, along some residents in other homes.
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, Sean Murray
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