Coronavirus: 646 New Cases; 10 Deaths Confirmed Today

National news updates on Friday 12th March.

Latest Figures:

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

4 deaths occurred in March, 1 in February, 1 in January and 4 are under investigation.

The median age of those who died was 67 years and the age range was 41 - 83 years.

There has been a total of 4,518* COVID-19 related deaths in Ireland.

As of midnight, Thursday 11th March, the HPSC has been notified of 646 confirmed cases of COVID-19. There is now a total of 225,820** confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ireland.

Of the cases notified today:

311 are men / 332 are women

74% are under 45 years of age

The median age is 30 years old

243 in Dublin, 80 in Kildare, 45 in Meath, 35 in Galway, 34 in Offaly and the remaining 209 cases are spread across 20 other counties***.

As of 8am today, 344 COVID-19 patients are hospitalised, of which 87 are in ICU. 16 additional hospitalisations in the past 24 hours.

As of March 9th, 553,161 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in Ireland:

396,089 people have received their first dose

157,072 people have received their second dose

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 COVID-19 Vaccination Programme.

Change to AstraZeneca guidelines:

The National Immunisation Advisory Committee has recommended the AstraZeneca vaccine be given to people aged 70 and over.

Over 70s have so far only been given Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, following NIAC's initial advice to the Department of Health.

The Deputy Chief Medical Officer will now issue a fresh recommendation to Government, which will likely pave the way for the AstraZeneca vaccine to be given to older people.

Immunology Professor at Trinity College Dublin, Mullingar's Kingston Mills says the roll out of the vaccine should now speed up: