Covid-19 Thursday: 10 deaths, 592 new cases

The Health Protection Surveillance Centre has today been notified of 10 additional deaths related to Covid-19.

Of these deaths, eight occurred in March, one in February and one in January.

The median age of those who died was 75 years and the age range was 0-84 years.

There has been a total of 4,509 Covid-19-related deaths in Ireland.

As of midnight, Wednesday 10th March, the HPSC has been notified of 592 confirmed cases of Covid-19. There is now a total of 225,179* confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Ireland.

Of the cases notified today:

• 299 are men / 288 are women
• 72% are under 45 years of age
• The median age is 32 years old
• 253 in Dublin, 52 in Kildare, 35 in Donegal, 33 in Meath, 28 in Galway and the remaining 191 cases are spread across all other counties**.

As of 8am today, 359 Covid-19 patients are hospitalised, of which 87 are in ICU. There were 32 additional hospitalisations in the past 24 hours.

As of March 8^th, 536,617 doses of Covid-19 vaccine have been administered in Ireland:

• 382,528 people have received their first dose
• 154,089  people have received their second dose

Dr Ronan Glynn, deputy chief medical officer, Department of Heath said: ‘Today marks one year since we reported Ireland’s first death related to Covid-19. More than 4,500 people have lost their lives with this disease. We remember them, and their families and friends, as well as the many people who remain seriously ill or who are dealing with long-term health issues because of Covid-19.

‘We now have three vaccines and a fourth authorised by the European Medicines Agency today, which offers us a way out of this pandemic. We must continue to protect as many people as possible from the severe effects of Covid-19 and to give people a chance to become vaccinated over the next number of weeks and months.

‘Your efforts to limit contacts and follow the public health advice is not in vain, it is to protect people and it directly saves lives.’

Today, NPHET endorsed new HPSC guidance on nursing home visitation which allows for more regular visiting. The new guidance comes into effect from the 22^nd of March 2021.

Professor Martin Cormican, clinical lead for antimicrobial resistance and infection control, HSE said: ‘Under the new guidance, residents may be facilitated to receive two visits per week on general compassionate grounds. This will be possible following two weeks after a high proportion of residents and healthcare workers have been vaccinated. There is no requirement to limit visits to less than one hour.

‘Nursing home residents have been particularly impacted by the severity of Covid-19 restrictions. Thanks to vaccination we are delighted to be in a position to recommend new guidance and hopefully relieve residents and their families of some of the isolation they have endured for so long.’

Professor Philip Nolan, chair of the NPHET Irish Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group, said: ‘We are seeing continued, slow progress across all indicators of Covid-19. There are some concerning trends in the data and as the incidence remains high, our situation is precarious. Increases in mobility and workplace attendance could potentially increase infection in the coming weeks. The R-number is estimated as stable at 0.6-1.0, but it is essential over the next few weeks that we stay home, continue to limit our contacts and suppress transmission.’

Professor Karina Butler, chair of National Immunisation Advisory Committee (NIAC) said: ‘We welcome the European Medicines Agency’s conclusion that Covid-19 Vaccine Janssen met the criteria for efficacy, safety and quality. Pending EU Commission approval, it could become the fourth effective vaccine available to Ireland which is a very welcome development.’

The COVID-19 Dashboard provides up-to-date information on the key indicators of Covid-19 in the community including daily data on Ireland’s vaccination programme.

*Validation of data at the HPSC has resulted in the denotification of 1 confirmed cases. The figure of 225,179 confirmed cases reflects this.

**County data should be considered provisional as the national Computerised Infectious Disease Reporting System (CIDR) is a dynamic system and case details are continually being validated and updated.

Today’s cases, 5-day moving average of new cases, 14-day incidence rate per 100,000 population and new cases in last 14 days (as of midnight 10 March 2021) (incidence rate based on Census 2016 county population)

~The 5-day moving average of the number of new cases provides an appropriate indicator of current daily case numbers within a county. It takes account of any validation of cases for previous days and smooths out daily/weekend fluctuations in case numbers.

• 7-day incidence 74.6
• 5-day moving average 499