Coronavirus: 60 More Deaths Confirmed

News updates for Saturday 16th January 2021.

Latest figures:

The Health Protection Surveillance Centre has today been notified of 60 additional deaths related to COVID-19.

Of these, 59 deaths occurred in January 2021. 1 death occurred in December 2020.

The median age of those who died is 85 years, and the age range is 65 to 100 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.

There has been a total of 2,595* COVID-19 related deaths in Ireland.

As of midnight, Friday 15th January, the HPSC has been notified of 3,231 confirmed cases of COVID-19. There is now a total of 169,780 * confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ireland.

Of the cases notified today:

1,465 are men / 1,712 are women

54% are under 45 years of age

The median age is 42 years old

931 cases are in Dublin, 388 in Cork, 238 in Louth, 155 in Waterford, 151 in Limerick, and the remaining 1,368 cases are spread across all other counties.

As of 2pm today, 1,854 COVID-19 patients are hospitalised of which 191 are in ICU. 119 additional hospitalisations in the past 24 hours.

Dr Tony Holohan, Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health said: “"This virus has taken root in every single part of the country. A significant percentage of the population - in excess of 1 in 10 in some counties - is currently either a case or a close contact. This is a huge burden of infection. When you consider that a significant percentage of our daily cases will directly lead to hospitalisation and mortality, the urgency with which we need to act becomes clear. By staying at home, you are protecting our health and social care services as they struggle against the enormous burden of infection that many weeks with thousands of daily cases of COVID-19 represents.”

“The improvements in cases is not happening fast enough. Too many people are still not complying as fully as we need with the advice. There are early indications that we may be levelling off in terms of improvement, but at far, far too high a level of infection. The UK variant is very likely making our challenge more difficult. Please follow the public health advice. The safest place at the moment is at home. Please stay at home.”

Dr Cillian De Gascun, Medical Virologist and Director of the National Virus Reference Laboratory, said: “Due to the nature of the mutation found in the UK variant of the virus, it is inevitable that it will become the dominant variant here in Ireland over time. The UK variant has adapted to us: simply put, it is better at moving from person to person when we come into contact. So what we must do is reduce its opportunities to spread by cutting out socialising. Stay home. Do not visit anyone else’s home. Do not attend illegal gatherings. Remember the simple and effective measures from springtime – wash your hands well and often, wear a mask, cough and sneeze into your elbow, keep 2 metres of space from others, and phone your GP at the very first sign of COVID-19 symptoms.”

Today’s cases, 14-day incidence rate per 100,000 population and new cases in last 14 days days (as of midnight 15 January 2021) (incidence rate based on Census 2016 county population)

County

Today's cases

(to midnight 15Jan2021)

14-day incidence rate per 100,000 population (to 15Jan2021)

New Cases during last 14 days

(to 15Jan2021)

Ireland

3231

1530.2

72,864

Monaghan

83

2891.5

1,775

Louth

238

2452.6

3,161

Limerick

151

2133.4

4,158

Waterford

155

2051.2

2,383

Wexford

136

1870.1

2,800

Dublin

931

1775.7

23,925

Carlow

47

1723.1

981

Mayo

101

1639.8

2,140

Clare

47

1596.6

1,897

Cork

388

1590.8

8,636

Cavan

114

1558.2

1,187

Donegal

83

1437.9

2,289

Meath

145

1294.1

2,524

Kilkenny

40

1191.1

1,182

Kildare

90

1171.2

2,606

Kerry

49

1102.2

1,628

Galway

132

1087.7

2,807

Tipperary

61

1002.8

1,600

Offaly

44

996.7

777

Roscommon

29

951.3

614

Sligo

26

943

618

Laois

48

935.1

792

Longford

5

846.5

346

Wicklow

45

818.7

1,166

Westmeath

31

751.4

667

Leitrim

12

639.7

205

 

ICU:

The number of people in intensive care with Covid-19 has increased by 73 per cent in the past week.

There are 185 people in ICU with the virus at the moment - compared to 107 a week earlier.

13 intensive care units have no beds available, and six have only one.

There are 1,800 people in hospital with the virus.

Leaving Cert:

A leading education expert says the Leaving Cert can still be held in June - even if schools remain closed until the end of March.

The government's been unable to give a timeline for when schools will reopen, and there are claims they'll stay closed until St Patrick's Day.

Education Minister Norma Foley is facing calls to cancel the Leaving Cert exams and opt for calculated grades instead.

But Arthur Godsil, a former headmaster of St Andrew's College in Dublin, says they still go ahead - without dramatic changes:

Special schools:

Agreement has still not been reached to enable schools for special needs children to reopen next Thursday.

The Department of Education wrote to principals last night to outline its plans for over 20,000 children to return to class that day.

It applies to special schools, and children with special needs who attend mainstream primary school.

The trade union Forsa represents 12,000 staff involved - Andy Pike, its head of education, says it's not a done deal yet:

Brazilian variant:

The Chief Medical Officer's warning of the danger of a Brazilian variant of Covid-19 arriving in Ireland.

Dr Tony Holohan says new strains of the virus have been identified there, but there has been no case in Ireland so far.

However, he's asking anyone who has travelled from Brazil in the past two weeks to self-isolate and get tested.

50 deaths linked to Covid-19 were confirmed here yesterday, and 3,498 new cases.

Former director-general of the HSE, Tony O'Brien, says he's worried about the threat of the Brazilian variant:

Travel:

All travellers to Ireland now have to prove they've tested negative for Covid-19 before they arrive.

The rule previously only applied to Britain and South Africa, but it's extended to all countries from today.

Everyone now has to take a PCR test within 72 hours of travelling and present a negative result when they arrive here.

Pat Dawson, the Chief Executive of the Irish Travel Agents Association, welcomes the decision:

Local figures:

50 additional deaths from Covid 19 and 3498 new cases have been confirmed.

1,182 of the cases 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.

102 of the cases are in the midlands. 

Laois has 53 new cases while there are 41 in Offaly and 8 in Westmeath. 

As of 2pm today, 1,850 COVID-19 patients are hospitalised of which 184 are in ICU.

The 14 day incidence rate per 100,000 is 1534.

Westmeath has the second lowest incidence rate in the county at 754. It's just ahead of Leitrim. 

Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr Ronan Glynn says the number of close contacts per case peaked at 6 at the end of December but has now dropped to 2.3.

 

More from Midlands News

Download Our App