PUBLIC HEALTH OFFICIALS have confirmed an additional 3,955 new cases of Covid-19 have been reported in Ireland. 

There have also been a further 28 deaths reported, according to the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET). 26 of the deaths occurred in January, while the date of death for two of the deaths is currently under investigation.

This now brings the death toll from Covid-19 in Ireland to 2,488, while there has been a total of 163,057 cases reported since the pandemic began.

There are currently 1,789 patients hospitalised with Covid-19, of which 169 are in ICU. There has been an additional 154 hospitalisations in the last 24 hours.

Of the cases notified today:

• 1,826 are men / 2,115 are women
• 54% are under 45 years of age
• The median age is 42 years old
• 1,210 are in Dublin, 456 in Cork, 235 in Louth, 221 in Meath, 218 in Limerick, and the remaining 1,615 cases are spread across all other counties.

According to Professor Philp Nolan of the Irish Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group, 44% of all Covid-19 cases have been reported in the last 14 days.

Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan said:

“Today we are giving some more information on the 208 people who have been reported to have sadly died from COVID-19 so far this month. Of these, 23 cases have been linked to outbreaks in hospitals and 38 with outbreaks in Nursing Homes.

The ages of those who have died range from 25 to 98 years. Every death associated with COVID-19 is a tragedy. We must cut our social contacts in order to break the chains of transmission and protect those who are most vulnerable to this disease. Stay at home and save lives.

Deaths of people with Covid-19 are not reported in real time but may have occured 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, Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony 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.

Impact on health system

Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr Ronan Glynn said that Covid-19 is having a “significant impact” on the Irish health system, but that we can change that trajectory by following public health guidance.

“The best way we can protect ourselves and each other is by staying home and only leaving home for essential journeys. We have the power to change the trajectory of the disease in our communities. We must hold firm and continue to stay home.”

Professor Nolan has said that this wave of the virus is different to what Ireland has seen in the past.

“From an epidemiological perspective, what we are seeing in this wave is different to what we have seen since springtime, and perhaps worse. The penetration of the virus throughout all ages of the population is a particular cause for serious concern, as is risk of severe disease that all of these people face.

Poor health outcomes, risk of serious or long-term illness and hospitalisation remain a risk for us all when it comes to COVID-19. That is why we must follow public health advice and protect not only ourselves but our hospital system and healthcare workers by staying at home.

Director of the National Virus Reference Laboratory, Dr Cillian De Gascun has said that it isn’t unusual for a virus to mutate into different variants.

“We have identified multiple different SARS-CoV-2 lineages in Ireland since the start of the pandemic, and 2 of the 3 recently emerged variants of concern from the UK and South Africa. We also expect that more variants will emerge across the world in the coming months,” said De Gascun.

While some of the new variants will increase the risk of becoming infected because they have increased transmissibility – they can stick longer and better to surfaces – this does not mean that our continued adherence to the public health advice is in anyway less effective. We must continue to wash our hands, wear a face covering where appropriate, maintain our social distance and continue to adhere to the public health advice.

With reporting by Cónal Thomas