Coronavirus: 39 Further Deaths Reported Today

National news updates on Thursday 4th March.

Latest figures:

The Health Protection Surveillance Centre has today been notified of 39 additional deaths related to COVID-19.

10 of these deaths occurred in March, 12 occurred in February, 13 in January, and 3 occurred earlier than this. One further death is under investigation.

The median age of those who died was 81 years and the age range was 0 - 97 years.

There has been a total of 4,396 COVID-19 related deaths in Ireland.

As of midnight, Wednesday 3^rd March, the HPSC has been notified of 462 confirmed cases of COVID-19. There is now a total of 221,649 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ireland.*

Of the cases notified today:

• 224 are men / 236 are women
• 69% are under 45 years of age
• The median age is 31 years old
• 207 in Dublin, 29 in Cork, 26 in Meath, 20 in Kildare, 18 in Galway and the remaining 162 cases are spread across all other counties. **

As of 8am today, 460 COVID-19 patients are hospitalised, of which 107 are in ICU. 26 additional hospitalisations in the past 24 hours.

As of March 01, 446,474 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in Ireland:

• 303,550 people have received their first dose
• 142,924 people have received their second dose

Dr Ronan Glynn, Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health said: “We have been made aware of four preliminary reports of stillbirths potentially associated with a condition called COVID Placentitis. These reports should be interpreted with caution as the coroners have not yet concluded their findings. The HSEs National Women and Infants Programme is aware of and is monitoring the situation and has issued a related notice to obstetric departments. I would ask that the privacy of all of those affected by this disease continue to be respected at all times.”

Dr Breda Smyth, Director of Public Health, HSE West said: “We have confirmed that more than 200 households have had an outbreak of COVID-19 that are linked back to the outbreak among students. We know that the new variant is more transmissible, and, based on the latest data, approximately a third of household contacts of confirmed cases in Ireland are now testing positive. If you display any symptoms of COVID-19, you must immediately self-isolate in your room and phone your GP.”

“We know how to break the chains of transmission of this disease. We must all continue to make every effort to limit our social contacts, stay home and stay safe.”

Dr Máirín Ryan, Deputy Chief Executive and Director of Health Technology Assessment, HIQA, said: “HIQA has today published its advice to NPHET on reducing the minimum age of mask wearing in children. As we know, the evidence points towards face mask use in the community reducing transmission of COVID-19. However, in young children, the benefit of face masks is likely small and may be affected by their reduced ability to comply with face mask wearing.”

“The expert advisory group has not advised any change to the guidance on mask wearing in children. The best way to ensure that schools remain a low-risk environment is by the continued use of a combination of public health measures, such as physical distancing, hand hygiene, cough etiquette, increased ventilation and by not attending when you have symptoms of COVID-19.”

Professor Philip Nolan, Chair of the NPHET Irish Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group, said: “The R number has at least remained stable and may even have decreased slightly, this is reflected in the week-on-week decline in cases that has been reported recently.”

“This represents an extraordinary effort over a very challenging nine week period that has brought us from 6,500 cases to under 600.”

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 2 confirmed cases. The figure of 221,649 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 03 March 2021) (incidence rate based on Census 2016 county population)

 ~The 5-day moving average of the number of new cases provides an appropriate in

• 7-day incidence 88
• 5-day moving average 536

Obesity:

2.2 million of the 2.5 million Covid deaths globally have happened in nations that are majority overweight.

That's according to a new report that coincides with World Obesity Day, which the WHO says must act as a 'wake up call.'

Ireland is not among the countries studied, however over 60 percent of the population is overweight or obese.

Dietitian Richelle Flanagan says slaintecare must provide for community prevention and treatment:

HSE:

An advisor to the HSE says the falling incidence rate is no reason to drop our guard against Covid 19.

The 14 day rate is currently 199 cases per 100,000 people, which is the lowest level since Christmas eve.

566 additional cases were reported alongside 25 patient deaths yesterday evening.

GP Advisor to the HSE Dr Ray Walley says people need to keep following the same rules they have been all along:

Criticism:

Several Fianna Fail TD's have strongly criticised the pace of the country's vaccination programme.

A number of deputies shared their anger at last nights parliamentary party meeting that many over 85s still don't know when they'll get their jab.

Dara Calleary said he had little faith in the HSE to deliver given some experiences, while Joe Flaherty said many older people have been left broken hearted.

It comes as the health service failed to hit the government's target of administering 100,000 doses last week, with supply issues blamed.

But professor of virology at UCD, Gerald Barry, says Ireland's doing well compared to other EU nations: