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:

• 1,576 are men / 1,906 are women
• 54% are under 45 years of age
• The median age is 42 years old
• 1,182 are in Dublin, 421 in Cork, 258 in Limerick, 187 in Galway, 164 in Waterford, and the remaining 1,286 cases are spread across all other counties.

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