A FURTHER 309 new cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed in Ireland, the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) announced this evening.
It also confirmed that eight further deaths have been reported.
Of the deaths reported today, four occurred in April, two in February and two “in January or earlier”.
Speaking at this evening’s briefing, acting chief medical officer Dr Ronan Glynn explained that the delay in reporting of deaths is due to the system in Ireland which allows a relatively long period of time for families to register the death of a loved one.
Dr Glynn said that in some instances it can take a number of months before NPHET is notified through to the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC).
“It’s not that we’re trying to inflate numbers, that’s the last thing we’re trying to do,” said Dr Glynn, adding that NPHET tries to be “very clear” about the dates of the deaths when reporting.
“We’re delighted to see the particularly significant and substantial decreases in mortality over recent weeks in particular, and hopefully that will continue.”
The median age of those who died was 79 years, while the age range was 43 to 92.
The total number of confirmed cases is now at 242,402*. The number of Covid-19 related deaths remains at 4,820.
Of the cases notified today:
As of 8am today, 184 Covid-19 patients are hospitalised, of which 51 are in ICU.
According to the health service, 1,094,964 vaccines had been administered to those aged 16 or over as of Tuesday.
The figure comprises of 769,721 first doses and 325,243 second doses.
The majority of doses given so far have been of the Pfizer vaccine, which makes up 73% of the total, followed by AstraZeneca (22%) and Moderna (4.5%).
*Validation of data at the HPSC resulted in the denotification of 12 confirmed cases.
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