A FURTHER 827 new cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed in Ireland, the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) has said this evening.

In a statement, it said that a further 55 people confirmed to have Covid-19 have died. 36 of the deaths occurred in February, while 18 occurred in January and one remains under investigation.

The death toll from Covid-19 in Ireland is 3,674, and the total number of confirmed cases is now at 202,548. HSPC validation has lead to the denotification of 42 cases.

Of the cases notified today:

• 409 are men / 416 are women
• 63% are under 45 years of age
• The median age is 38 years old
• 297 are in Dublin, 76 in Cork, 56 in Galway, 46 in Wexford, 37 in Kildare and the remaining 315 cases are spread across all other counties*. 

As of 2pm today, 1,177 COVID-19 patients are hospitalised, of which 177 are in ICU. 29 additional hospitalisations in the past 24 hours.

Ireland’s 14-day incidence rate per 100,000 now stands at 345.6, with a five-day moving average of new cases at 1,015.

Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan said:

“There are a few old habits that collectively we have to break in order to suppress COVID-19 together. We know that people who feel unwell typically avoid calling their GP over the weekend, and wait to see if they improve. You should no longer do that – you must phone your GP at the first sign of anything like COVID-19 symptoms. Do not adopt a ‘wait and see’ approach.”

“Similarly, do not leave your house or go to work if you have any cold or flu like symptoms at all. Breaking these habits will limit COVID-19’s opportunity to spread from person to person.”

Earlier, it was confirmed that the majority of people over 70 will receive a Covid-19 vaccine in their GP practice. 

For GP practices with under 200 people over the age of 70 there will be a GP-run vaccination clinic at an agreed location. 

The first tranche of this next stage of vaccine rollout will see approximately 72,000 people over the age of 85 given the vaccination. There are approximately 490,000 people over the age of 70 in Ireland who will be in line to receive the vaccine in the coming weeks.

The first deliveries of vaccines to GP surgeries will start on 15 February and this is expected to “significantly ramp up in subsequent weeks”.

*According to NPHET, all county data is provisional as cases are constantly being validated and updated.

With reporting by Tadgh McNally