HEALTH OFFICIALS HAVE identified a further 6,521 cases of Covid-19 in this country, with 10 deaths also confirmed. 

The National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) has said there have now been 127,657 confirmed cases of Covid-19 since the start of the pandemic with a total of 2,307 deaths. 

The latest figures come on the back of 7,836 cases being confirmed yesterday and virus hospitalisations now topping 1,000 people.

Of the cases notified today:

• 3,070 are men / 3,432 are women
• 62% are under 45 years of age
• The median age is 37-years-old
• 2,174 in Dublin, 571 in Cork, 382 in Limerick, 342 in Waterford, 315 in Wexford and the remaining 2,737 cases are spread across all other counties.

As of 2pm today, 1,043 patients are hospitalised, of which 96 are in ICU. There have been 99 additional hospitalisations in the past 24 hours.

The briefing heard that positivity rates have been climbing since November but have now been stable, yet “exceptionally high” for the last week, Dr Tony Holohan said. 

He said that there has been a high incidence rate across all age groups but over 33% are over 45 with a significant portion of those over 65. Professor Philip Nolan added that the reproduction rate for the disease now stands between 2.4-3. 

Nolan said that he hoped, by looking at the data, that cases could plateau around 6,000 and then start to reduce. 

He said: “On the pessimistic side, we could see case numbers plateauing in five six days time and about 8,500 cases per day and declining slowly to somewhere between 2,500 and 2,000 per day by the end of January – that’s a pessimistic projection.

“A more optimistic projection suggests that we are starting to plateau now at five to 6,000 cases per day on average case numbers could decline. By the end of January, we’ll have a lot more detail on that and more specific projections, a week from now, where we can understand what the impact of the measures between Christmas and now have been.”

Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said earlier today that the Government is 

considering banning the sale of alcohol after a certain time of day, the Tánaiste has said.

Leo Varadkar also said the government is working on new public health regulations to strengthen the law around drinking alcohol in public streets to give gardai more powers of enforcement.

Holohan echoed the Tánasite’s sentiments and added that “the virus loves alcohol”.

“I’ve said a number of occasions before this virus loves alcohol. That is a concern for us, and the way in which we have consumed and our pattern of use of alcohol in this country has been a challenge.

“We’re continuing to stress, given the numbers that we’re dealing with here, given the potential role that’s being played by the variants that have been reported, and the increasing role that we think may be played by that we have to do everything we can to try to suppress, and that includes measures in relation to alcohol.”