Coronavirus: A Further 41 Patients Have Died

Latest news updates for 18th April 2020.

Latest figures:

The Health Protection Surveillance Centre has today been informed that 41 people diagnosed with COVID-19 in Ireland have died.

· 35 deaths located in the east, 2 in the north west and 4 in the west of the country

· The deaths included 23 females and 18 males

· The median age of today’s reported deaths is 83

· 35 people were reported as having underlying health conditions

There have now been 571 COVID-19 related deaths in Ireland. A summary of all 571 deaths provided by the HPSC shows that;

· 326 (57%) of those who died were male, 245 (43%) were female

· The age range is 23 - 105 years

· The median age of those who died is 83

· 330 of these cases were admitted to hospital with 46 admitted to ICU

As of 11.15am Saturday 18 April, the HPSC has been notified of the following cases;

· An additional 630 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 reported by Irish laboratories

· An additional 148 confirmed cases of COVID-19 reported by a laboratory in Germany

With the latest figures from Germany included, there are now a total of 14,758 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ireland.

There are 656 confirmed cases in the midlands. 

Westmeath has 332 people with the illness.

There are 177 in Offaly and Laois has 147 patients. 

The HSE is working to identify any contacts the patients may have had to provide them with information and advice to prevent further spread.

Today’s data from the HPSC, as of midnight, Thursday, 16 April (13,746 cases) reveals:

· 44% are male and 55% are female, with 454 clusters involving 2,964 cases

· The median age of confirmed cases is 48 years

· 2,168 cases (16%) have been hospitalised

· Of those hospitalised, 296 cases have been admitted to ICU

· 3,573 cases are associated with healthcare workers

· Dublin has the highest number of cases at 6,934 (50% of all cases) followed by Cork with 979 cases (7%)

· Of those for whom transmission status is known: community transmission accounts for 52%, close contact accounts for 43%, travel abroad accounts for 5%

Dr. Tony Holohan, Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health, said: "This week the National Public Health Emergency Team emphasised the importance of testing in interrupting the transmission of COVID-19 in community residential settings including nursing homes.

“This sector remains a priority for our focused attention and we will continue to monitor and support them through this outbreak.”

Personal Protective Equipment:

Health Minister Simon Harris says the health service is doing "relatively well" when it comes to getting PPE for healthcare workers.

He's been responding to reports that HSE supplies of masks, gowns and gloves to some nursing homes were being limited based on how many suspected and confirmed cases they had.

Nursing Homes Ireland says it amounts to "rationing".

Minister Harris says large quantities of protective equipment are being sent -- but admits more could be done.

Immunity:

There's no evidence that people who've recovered from coronavirus have immunity to the disease, according to the World Health Organisation.

The UK government has bought millions of antibody tests which show whether someone has been previously infected.

But doctors at the WHO are warning there's nothing to say a patient can't catch the virus twice.

Meanwhile, Health officials in Ireland are planning to carry out 100,000 tests every week over the next six months.

Nurses:

Almost one thousand nurses have rejoined the medical register since the Covid-19 pandemic began.

Meanwhile, just under half of eligible student nurses have made themselves available to work.

The figures since mid-March show that 1,399 people have rejoined the medical register here.

The largest proportion is in nursing and midwifery - with 346 signing back onto the Medical Council, which includes Taoiseach Leo Varadkar.

48 percent of student nurses who were eligible have signed a contract with the HSE to be Healthcare Assistants.

The sign-ups are part of the On Call initiative - which more than 70,000 people applied for as part of the Government's response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Health Minister Simon Harris has said "we will be forever indebted" to those who have signed up, saying "we need every hand on deck".

Census:

A census of ALL deaths in long-term residential care facilities this year is being carried out this weekend.

The research includes people who died from Covid-19 and non-Covid-19 illnesses, to find out the scale of the virus in nursing homes.

Yesterday saw the death toll rise to 530, after a further 44 patients died after being infected with Covid.

There have been 335 outbreaks in residential care settings, including 196 in nursing homes.

Kathleen McLellan, from the Department of Health, says the census will inform how the state tries to stop the spread of Covid among older people.

Africa:

The number of cases of coronavirus in Africa have risen by 51 per cent over the past week.

There are more than 2.2 million cases across the world and over 153,000 deaths from Covid-19.

32,000 people have lost their lives in the US - with nearly a quarter in New York City.

Latest figures:

44 more people have died after contracting Covid-19 in the Republic.

The death toll across the country now stands at 530.

In the past 24 hours 702 new cases have been detected, including 112 from swabs sent to German labs.

The total number of positive tests now stands at 13,980.

There are nine new confirmed cases in Westmeath, bringing the total to 318. 

Offaly has 171 patients with the illness up from 163.

139 people in Laois have COVID-19, an increase of six cases. 

 

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