Coronavirus: No New Deaths Reported Today

National news updates on Sunday 14th March.

Latest figures:

There have been no new deaths reported to the Health Protection Surveillance Centre today.

There has been a total of 4,534 COVID-19 related deaths in Ireland.

As of midnight, Saturday 13^th March, the HPSC has been notified of 384 confirmed cases of COVID-19. There is now a total of 226,741* confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ireland.

Of the cases notified today:

• 195 are men / 187 are women
• 73% are under 45 years of age
• The median age is 31 years old
• 145 in Dublin, 41 in Kildare, 37 in Offaly, 29 in Galway, 24 in Cork and the remaining 108 cases are spread across 17 other counties. **

As of 8am today, 349 COVID-19 patients are hospitalised, of which 86 are in ICU. 17 additional hospitalisations in the past 24 hours.

As of March 11, 589,512 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in Ireland:

• 426,819 people have received their first dose
• 162,693 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.

*Validation of data at the HPSC has resulted in the denotification of 1 confirmed case. The figure of 226,741 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 13 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 74.4
• 5-day moving average 559

Astra recipients to report side effects:

Ireland's vaccine regulator says it's received a 'small number' of reports of blood clots following vaccination with the AstraZeneca vaccine.

However the HPRA says they've not been of the nature of those reported in Norway which led to today's decision.

It's encouraging people to report any suspected side effects, which can occur between 3 to 14 days after vaccination and may include feeling unwell or noticing blue spots in the skin.

Immunology professor at Trinity College Dublin, Kingston Mills says the information will help authorities reach a conclusion:

Funerals:

The Bishop of Killaloe is appealing to people to find alternative ways to offer condolences to those who have lost a loved one.

Bishop Fintan Monahan says priests and parishioners have expressed their concerns over the number of people attending funerals and burials recently.

It comes after 300 people attended a funeral in Carrick-on-Shannon in County Leitrim - gardai issued 80 fixed penalty notices and arrested two people.

Bishop Monahan is reminding people that only ten mourners are permitted to attend funerals. 

Stick to basics:

People are being reminded to come forward for a Covid-19 test as soon as they have symptoms.

Health officials have raised concerns that recent progress in reducing the spread of the virus has slowed.

The 5-day average of cases is 545 - while there are 349 Covid patients in hospital and 86 in ICU.

Dr Ray Walley, GP advisor to the HSE on Covid, says people need to remind each other of the basics:

'Safest thing to do' on Astra:

The National Immunisation Advisory Committee says temporarily suspending the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine was a difficult decision, but it was the safest thing to do.

It follows reports in Norway of 4 serious blood clotting incidents after vaccination.

NIAC says there has so far been no reports of similar cases here in Ireland, despite more than 117,000 doses of its vaccine being administered.

Chairperson, Professor Karina Butler, says the decision was necessary until further detail becomes available:

Immunologist, Professor Kingston Mills, says it's the correct thing to do:

Leaving Cert lobbying:

The Department of Education has received no reports of teachers being pressurised to boost Leaving Cert student's calculated grades.

Under last year's process, any principal who'd been made aware of teachers being lobbied had to report it to the department.

The Business Post reports new laws are being prepared allowing pupils' grades to be permanently withheld if they put pressure on their teacher to bump up their mark.

Suspending AstraZeneca:

The National Immunisation Advisory Committee has recommended suspending the use of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine.

It follows new reports  of serious blood clotting after vaccination.

The Deputy Chief Medical Officer says the decision to temporarily suspend the use of AstraZeneca was taken following 4 new reports from the Norwegian Medicines Agency of serious blood clotting events after vaccination.

Dr. Ronan Glynn says while the link between the vaccine and the cases has not been concluded the decision was taken as a precautionary measure.

A number of countries, including Denmark, Norway and Iceland have already taken the decision to suspend its use over blood clotting concerns.

The World Health Organisation is also investigating, but the company itself has said as recently as Friday there is "no evidence" its vaccine causes an increased risk of blood clots.

As of last Wednesday, more than 109,000 doses of AstraZeneca have been administered here in Ireland.

Vaccine arrivals:

Ireland is set to receive the biggest delivery of Covid-19 vaccines so far of up to 200 thousand doses later this month.

The chair of the government's vaccine taskforce has told the Sunday Independent the shipments will arrive around March 31st.

Professor Brian MacCraith insists the country remains on course to receive a million doses a month from April.

He's also revealed the government has downgraded its reliance on AstraZeneca jabs by half following a series of missed delivery targets.

Multinational trade:

The Tánaiste says Ireland's multinational sector is what's paying for pandemic aid to workers and businesses suffering the worst of the lockdown. 

Leo Varadkar will spend the next three days on a "virtual trade mission" to meet leading figures in business and politics from India, Australia, Britain, France, Germany and the United States. 

He says exporters can't replace all the jobs lost in hospitality and tourism. 

But he says it's been the backbone of the economy through the worst of the crisis:

Concerning infection levels:

Domestic holidays might be impossible this summer even if elevated Covid-19 infection rates are no more than a "blip". 

That's according to a public health expert, who says the HSE's contact tracing effort is "embarrassing". 

543 more people have contracted the virus and 16 more patients have died.

Professor Anthony Staines of DCU says we need between 1,500 and 2,000 more contact tracers at work:

Dr Ray Walley, GP advisor to the HSE on Covid, says there's a need for everyone to keep following the rules: