
News updates for Saturday 9th January 2021.
Latest figures:
The Health Protection Surveillance Centre has today been notified of 9 additional deaths related to COVID-19.
There has been a total of 2,336 COVID-19 related deaths in Ireland.
As of midnight, Friday 8th January, the HPSC has been notified of 4,842 confirmed cases of COVID-19. There is now a total of 140,727* confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ireland.
Of the cases notified today:
2,304 are men / 2,528 are women
61% are under 45 years of age
The median age is 38 years old
1,049 in Dublin, 530 in Cork, 514 in Waterford, 405 in Wexford, 247 in Louth and the remaining 2,097 cases are spread across all other counties.
As of 2pm today, 1,293 COVID-19 patients are hospitalised, of which 119 are in ICU. 102 additional hospitalisations in the past 24 hours.
County |
Today's cases (to midnight 08Jan2021) |
14-day incidence rate per 100,000 population (26Dec2020 to 08Jan2021) |
New Cases during last 14 days (26Dec2020 to 08Jan2021) |
||||
Ireland |
4,842 |
1162.2 |
55,344 |
||||
Monaghan |
135 |
2296.9 |
1,410 |
||||
Louth |
247 |
2008.8 |
2,589 |
||||
Limerick |
198 |
1660.9 |
3,237 |
||||
Waterford |
514 |
1386.7 |
1,611 |
||||
Cavan |
93 |
1378.4 |
1,050 |
||||
Dublin |
1,049 |
1340.7 |
18,064 |
||||
Donegal |
149 |
1308.5 |
2,083 |
||||
Cork |
530 |
1206 |
6,547 |
||||
Clare |
110 |
1198.5 |
1,424 |
||||
Wexford |
405 |
1191.5 |
1,784 |
||||
Mayo |
197 |
1111.1 |
1,450 |
||||
Carlow |
122 |
1108.3 |
631 |
||||
Sligo |
44 |
1084.9 |
711 |
||||
Meath |
177 |
1033.6 |
2,016 |
||||
Kilkenny |
235 |
1013.8 |
1,006 |
||||
Kerry |
75 |
949.2 |
1,402 |
||||
Kildare |
71 |
875.0 |
1,947 |
||||
Offaly |
6 |
819.6 |
639 |
||||
Longford |
9 |
797.6 |
326 |
||||
Laois |
6 |
722.6 |
612 |
||||
Roscommon |
85 |
708.0 |
457 |
||||
Galway |
207 |
688.6 |
1,777 |
||||
Leitrim |
10 |
652.2 |
209 |
||||
Westmeath |
11 |
639.9 |
568 |
||||
Tipperary |
118 |
638.7 |
1,019 |
||||
Wicklow |
39 |
544.1 |
775 |
China:
Two cities in China are urging residents to stay at home for a week following a Covid-19 outbreak.
It's seen more than 300 people test positive over a seven day period.
Authorities in the Shijiazhuang and Xingtai regions in the Hebei province are restricting people to their communities - and have banned gatherings.
Vaccines:
A leading member of NPHET says Covid-19 vaccines may not work against the South African variant that's been detected in Ireland.
Three cases of the highly transmissible variant were confirmed here yesterday, all linked to people who'd travelled from South Africa.
Officials also reported a record 8,248 new cases of coronavirus yesterday, along with 20 additional deaths.
A record 1,180 people are in hospital with the virus, with 109 in intensive care.
Dr Cillian de Gascun, director of the National Virus Reference Laboratory, says the South African variant is a big concern:
Meanwhile, the European Commission says Ireland will receive its first doses of the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine next week.
The jab was approved by the European Medicine Agency on Wednesday, and Ireland has ordered 875,000 doses.
It's the second vaccine approved for use in Europe, with the Pfizer Bio-N-Tech jab currently being rolled out here.
European Commission health spokesperson, Stefan de Keersmaecker, says the Moderna vaccine is about to arrive in EU countries:
Hospitals:
The Labour Leader's hitting out at the Health Minister for not getting private hospitals to give full capacity to the HSE.
16 private hospitals have agreed to provide up to 30 per cent of their beds to tackle the spiralling covid 19 cases.
But Alan Kelly says Minister Stephen Donnelly's deal is a bad one for the public:
Children with special needs:
Family Carers Ireland and disability groups have been invited to a meeting with the Education Minister on Monday.
They'll meet Norma Foley to discuss the impact of the decision to keep classes closed for children with special needs.
They'll be learning remotely instead, along with Leaving Cert students who won't be going into school either on Monday.
Family Carers Ireland spokesperson, Catherine Cox says family carers are upset by the effect of school closures on children with special needs:
Local figures:
A further 20 deaths linked to Covid-19 have been confirmed and 8,248 new cases.
The Chief Medical Officer says three cases of a new variant, first detected in South Africa, have now been confirmed here.
Anyone who's recently travelled from the country is being advised to self-isolate for 14 days and refer themselves for a test.
1,180 patients with Covid are now being treated in hospital, with 109 in intensive care.
Westmeath had 113 new positive tests with, 72 new cases were confirmed in Offaly, and Laois has 55 new cases.
Infectious diseases professor Jack Lambert, from the Mater Hospital, says all counties have experienced far more cases of Covid-19 in the third wave than during the previous peak: