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A FURTHER 3,498 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 50 people confirmed to have Covid-19 have died.
The death toll from Covid-19 in Ireland is 2,536, and the total number of confirmed cases is now at 166,548.
Of the cases notified today:
As of 2pm today, 1,850 Covid-19 patients are hospitalised of which184 are in ICU. there were 118 additional hospitalisations in the past 24 hours.
Dr Tony Holohan, Chief Medical Officer said new variants of Covid have recently been identified in Brazil, and in travellers to Japan from Brazil. He said is no evidence of these variants in Ireland.
“Anyone who has travelled from Brazil in the last 14 days is advised to self-isolate for 14 days, from the date of arrival, and identify themselves, through a GP, for testing as soon as possible,” he added.
Dr Ronan Glynn, Deputy Chief Medical Officer, added “We have worked exceptionally hard in recent weeks to reduce our close contacts. At the end of December, the number of close contacts per confirmed case peaked at approximately 6. That has now dropped to 2.3 contacts. This enormous effort is the reason we are seeing case numbers beginning to fall.”
We have worked exceptionally hard in Ireland in recent weeks to reduce our close contacts. At the end of December, the number of close contacts per confirmed case peaked at approximately 6. That has now dropped to 2.3 contacts per case. @roinnslainte #COVID19 @ICGPnews @HSELive
— Dr Ronan Glynn (@ronan_glynn) January 15, 2021
“We know that it is extremely difficult to keep our close contacts to a minimum, particularly over an extended period of time. But this is the main way we can protect ourselves and our loved ones from Covid-19. Again today, we are reporting the highest number of people with Covid-19 to date in our hospitals. We must stay home to protect ourselves and each other.”
Recording of deaths
NPHET said all of today’s reported 50 deaths occurred in January 2021. The median age of those who died was 82 years, and the age range was 45-96 years. There was no newly reported death in healthcare workers. There was no newly reported death in a young person under the age of 30, their statement read.
Deaths of people with Covid-19 are not reported in real-time but may have occurred 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 one’s death 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
With reporting by Cónal Thomas and Garreth MacNamee
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Just more money for consultants
@Martin Sinnott: instead of just asking the locals they’ll pay some lad or lassie with a title who’ll charge a couple of K per hour to ask the locals and present the reply’s in a fancy hotel on a fancy slide with fancy documents.
@Martin Sinnott: Yep I’d worry about this too. And they don’t have a good record with the national parks in this country either imho. Not one of them is in good health! Wicklow Mountains & Glens have huge potential for land regeneration and rewilding, and it’s mostly not happening. Re Glendalough and traffic.. perhaps a one way system although knowing the area I’m not sure how this would work? They need to keep what makes the place so special for many of us and be very sensitive to the nature there but also retain the small village feel to nearby Laragh and surrounds. There have been a number of builds that should not have been given PP in recent times and they have damaged the look of the place. also more street lighting was put in effecting the dark skies. Some people just don’t get it, their desensitised and don’t know any better.
@eric nelligan: not that simple, ‘‘tis Ireland
Locals won’t be consulted because it will have to go to court/inquiry, drag out for 10 years.
Then get go ahead, half finished , out of Money.
Tax incentives, get finished 5years after. AND then go to tender to be brought up to date.!!!!
I hope they dont try and wreck it, like they are trying to wreck the Hellfire Club
@Tinky Freeman:
I that was cancelled
@Tinky Freeman: the parking issues on the weekends up are appalling. People just dump their cars on road leading to traffic jams. A cable car from the square up is the way forward… Or maybe people should park responsibility
I’ll only invoice €150,000 for solving this pressing issue with the use of bollards.
#masterplan
If they stopped taking money from people to park cars in the car park it would stop people just abandoning their cars anywhere to avoid paying. I have witnessed this may times
The solution is Easy peasy, just operate a one way circular system and time based entry. Car parks ate a separate issue.
@Kevin T Finn: you should include your proposal as part of your submission for the €500k design fees
@Kevin T Finn: a one way circular system into a cul de sac?
Build a wall, build a wall, build a wall
No need for 500k. Prebooked parking and hard enforcement of badly parked cars is all hats needed. No need for one way systems, all of these parks will benefit from less cars and people overall.
They could open a second destination though to get people higher up and I suggest Turlough hill. It has lots of hard standing already, is already an industrial site.. Provide a walkway,.
Do like Glenveagh , parking is away from the main building , shuttle buses to the site . Sorted .
Simple build carpark at Glendalough mines site further on from the upper lake carpark. Therefore, 3 carpark’s which should spread the footfall of visitor’s to different area’s of the lakes.
Love going hiking up there but the facilities are atrocious. The toilets are from the 60s and stink, are filthy, hand dryers not working. Just god damn awful. I’d rather piss in a forest than in those toilets
No car parks. Public bus transport only? Having never been there I’m not sure if this would work
@Thomas Maher: it wouldn’t
Not the type of place it would be easy to spread visitors over periods of time. It’s a great place for a hike or just bringing the family up for a relaxing say where kids have a bit of space to run around. Park & ride might work but you would still need a big carpark in the vicinity.
have your say