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LAST UPDATE | 14 Feb 2021
A FURTHER 788 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 17 people confirmed to have Covid-19 have died.
15 of these deaths occurred in February and one in December, with the date of the last death still under investigation.
The death toll from Covid-19 in Ireland is 3,948, and the total number of confirmed cases is now at 209,582.
The median age of people who died included in today’s figure was 80 years and the age range was 50-92 years.
Of the cases notified today:
At 8am today, there were 899 Covid-19 patients in hospital, of whom 160 are in ICU. 34 additional hospitalisations have been made in the past 24 hours.
The national 14-day incidence rate now stands at 277.2 per 100,000 people.
Validation of data at the Health Protection Surveillance Centre led to the identification of two cases that were previously confirmed, which is reflected in the current running total of 209,582.
Vaccinations of GPs continued this weekend, with the HSE hopeful that the vast majority would have received their first dose ahead of the rollout to over-85s due to begin tomorrow.
The Moderna and AstraZeneca vaccines are being given at centres in Dublin, Portlaoise and Galway, with 1,800 expected to receive their second dose.
Among those helping to administer vaccines at the Portlaoise centre was Defence Forces doctor, Captain Fiachra Lambe.
He told the PA news agency: “It’s really positive. Lots of relief, lots of happiness, lots of people saying that it gives them a bit of hope for the future. It’s a really nice thing to be involved in these days.
“It’s positive, it’s people seeing change in progress and seeing light at the end of the tunnel.”
As of 11 February, 261,073 doses of vaccines against Covid-19 have been administered in Ireland, including 171,239 people who have received their first dose and 89,834 who have received their second dose.
With reporting from PA and Lauren Boland
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Like MD or not he is 100% correct on this call and the onus is on him and other world leaders to speak out regardless of the consequences
@sand: isn’t this the same MD who thought hugo Chavez was a hero for pumping billions of barrels of oil so he could fritter it away on regional vanity projects?
@sand: No doubt your intentions are good, but Higgins’s criticism of USA on this is just meaningless and cuddly virtue signalling.
The real problems do not stem from fossil fuels or anything like that, those are just symptoms of the fatal disease that is gross over-population of the planet.
There were about 3 billion people living when I was born only 60 years ago, there are now about 7.5 billions. Apart from taking serious steps to drastically reduce the population, there are no changes in human behaviour or consumption that can make human existence both sustainable and bearable. Culling the herd in a humane way, in time, seems almost impossible – unless mother nature somehow intervenes and does it for us..
@Kieran Magennis: Thanos…?
@Kieran Magennis: Read ‘The Population Bomb’ by Paul Ehrlich from 1968. We’ve all starved to death by now! The great famines of the 80′s finished us off. I remember being quite worried when it was published. I was 15 at the time and had started to develop an interest in the environment. He’s still pushing the same message of we’re doomed by overpopulation and telling people to trust him because he was really right but got his dates mixed up. Quite surprised the overpopulation myth is still believed by some people. Humans and human behaviour are part of mother nature. We’re not separate from it. It’s a human construct anyway. Humans will do what they’ve always done when seeking resources to consume they’ll adapt using whatever technology there is to hand. Give us some credit at least…
@William Tallon: Scavanging for resources is going to be a lot of fun when there’s 15 billion people trying to do it….
@William Tallon: absolute poppycock
Supply and demand
Food Supply will decrease and demand increase to a point where no interventions will work
@sand: this same little clown flys all over the world and for what he has no real powers what’s so ever , the Irish presidents job is a token mascot ffs
@Kieran Magennis: You truly are a believer! I don’t think anyone will convince you otherwise but have a read of this anyway…
@Means of escape: That sounds more like science fiction than science…
@Kieran Magennis: Or read this for a slightly more to the right viewpoint than the Irish Times. But to a believer they must both be wrong…
https://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/how-big-problem-overpopulation
@William Tallon: It might be helpful to know the maximum Earth population you believe would be sustainable (and lives worth living)…10 billions? 25 billions? 50 billions?
@Kieran Magennis: Why would you find it helpful for me to give you such a figure? It’s quite obvious you know that I don’t have this information nor do I think anybody else has. I can only go by projections made by those who study demographics which I have to assume are scientifically based. It’s a bit of a ‘strawman’ strategy really that you’ve employed and is also clearly designed to make what I’ve previously said seem invalid in some way because I can’t give you a figure. ‘Look, look he can’t answer my question. He must be wrong…’ As I’ve said already you’re a true believer in the we’re doomed narrative. I’m not. I prefer to base my expectations on fact and scientifically based projection. And now if you’ll forgive me I must get back to this delicious Soylent Green casserole…
@sand: but His n Her’s BMW740′s / multiple homes / multiple pensions / liberal use of government jet and a college gap year type tour of South America are probably ok for the little man himself
@Kieran Magennis: don’t worry MD and others have recently supported and promoted a way to cull the population here. Won’t be long till they introduce another method as well.
Michael D Higgins support of the Venezuelan regime was Regressive and Pernicious
@Derek Goulding: whataboutery into a subject totally irrelevant to the point being made is regressive and pernicious
@Rochelle: actually it’s very relevant.
@Rochelle: based on Higgins’s support for Chavez despite causing lots of carbon emissions and attacking trump for not doing enough on carbon emissions one might think that it isn’t carbon emissions that Michael D really cares about.
@TheTrustedChalice: Assassinating the character because you’re afraid to dispute the point or dislike the target of criticism is never relevant.
@Rochelle: dismissing Derek’s valid point as “whataboutery” is a perfect example of you being afraid to dispute his point.
Fine bunch of our gombeen politicians lining up to criticise trump but its a pity none of them can do deals like trump.
@Adrian: Ha ha
Five pensions property speculator phony leftie Higgins spots media opportunity. Bash Trump. He is as much a chancer as Trump. Call out Maduro and his kleptocrat oligarchs in Venuzuela.Tell Cuba to introduce real democracy.
But government jets are ok, yeah Micky?
Cop on you hypocrite.
No fan of Trump but lead by example.
@Matrix1: Take it easy. Wasn’t poor Alice Mary trying to say she would cycle to Strasbourg if she got elected as an MEP. Thankfully the Dublin electorate didn’t fall for it.
Carbon just another way for fGFF to screw paddy
From the man who used the government jet to fly to Belfast v
@Marg FitzGerald: Infairness he did think it could fly on the hot air coming out of his orifices .
Mr private jet
All about laying the foundations for further regressive taxes here using scam save the plant crap. Not as if the former Liebour TD hasn’t form..
How’s the jet going for you Michael.
I wish that President Higgins would just retire. I wish that Higgins would have stuck to his original pledge that he would serve a single term as President of Ireland, instead of engaging in childish, left-wing insults against the head of state of Ireland’s most important friend and ally in the world (the United States). It is inappropriate for Higgins to make such student union-style comments on the eve of the visit, to our country, by the President of the United States.
Higgins never makes similar comments about the government of China, which also does not subscribe to the Paris Agreement. Higgins’ motivations are purely anti-American, and the Irish Government should have reigned Higgins in. The Irish President is only supposed to act upon the advice of the Government. Hence, Higgins’ statement today in the RDS, attacking the democratically-elected leader of the United States, should have been vetted in advance by the government of Leo Varadkar.
Dear Michael D …. you should buy a car maintenance manual and stop changing those Aras cars every … keep them for 12 years as they are more ECO friendly than Electric cars changed every 3 yrs … and give up your ol’ Jet!
The Daft Greens have No Carbon Tax or VAT on Jet Fuel but tax people trying to get to work. They shot our petrol cars which have less carbon emissions if owned for 12 years than electric cars if changed every 3 years and forced us into dirty noxious diesels. Now they want to shoot the cows in the fields!
(5.6 tonnes CO2 to make a petrol car: 8.8 tonnes of CO2 to make an Electric car, mainly mining for and manufacture of the batteries … that’s why keeping a petrol car for 12 yrs is more ECO friendly v new Electric cars changed every 3 yrs! … people will change Electric cars often, because of “Battery Fade Fear”)
Is MD UPSET HE IS NOT FLYING TO DUNBEG
Well when Ireland as a country with 4Million people goes green, the countries with a combined population of 5Billion, China, India,Indonesia, Russia & the United States are all bound to follow.
2050 is decades too late – In India this week over 200 million are trying to survive in temperatures over 50Ccelsius https://www.news.com.au/technology/environment/climate-change/india-weather-temperature-passes-50c-celsius-in-northern-india/news-story/0985e58e9ded4524fe586312b5154aef#.z30un
The oceans are suffocating too, being depleted of oxygen and dead zones with zero oxygen and zero life now size of EU and growing https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/jan/04/oceans-suffocating-dead-zones-oxygen-starved
@GO GREEN: And the Paris Accord gives India more or less a free pass for the foreseeable future. It’s too late to be letting heavily polluting countries like China and India to continue polluting on the same scale as they are now. It needs to be renegotiated, but that will never happen.
@GO GREEN: Its too late . Have a good time and go out with a bang .
Reality = the same fookers will be whinging the End of the World is Nigh again and again over the next 10 then 20 then 30 years .
@Shane Dignam: There are plenty solutions but these are being blocked – turn Sahara Desert into a solar farm could power Europe 7 times over
@Shane Dignam: The US is up there as one of the top three and per capita is by far the worst offender. In fact Ireland’s emissions are almost 6x that of India…
@Shane Dignam: so maybe some leaders should be bold enough to pull out of the agreement so we can all take a hard look at what needs to be done… if only someone were to get the ball rolling …
@Mushy Peas: Indeed. I’m with you on that. But our western leaders would rather bend over for China. As if they haven’t been given enough advantages already by our globalist friends/fiends. Democracies sucking up to communists to please their corporate buddies with large profits based on cheap labour. And say nothing about locking up 1 million Muslims in China, might hurt the progressives feelings.
@GO GREEN: And the Earth is flat
Good on you Michael D.
Mickey Mouse
Irelands track record on climate change is one of the worst in would. We like to talk a out good intentions but no action.
But the house of representatives passed a climate bill the first in decades that will force Trump to put the states back in the paris agreement
For some reason higgins reminds me of the older guy in the childrens programme wnaderly wagon
Bit pointless using words Trump doesn’t know the meaning of
says the man who flew to Belfast from Dublin on the government jet.Hypocrite.
MD respect everyone,s office regardless.
Hope your only heating the rooms you need in that house in the park your rattling around in micky d. It would make a great spot for a bit of co-living.
How carbonophobic of him. Gases have feeling too you know.
have your say