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Coronavirus: 922 New Cases; 8 Deaths Confirmed Today

Thursday, 24 December 2020 09:34

National News December 24th 2020.

Latest Figures: 

The Health Protection Surveillance Centre has today been notified of 8 additional deaths related to COVID-19.

There has been a total of 2,192 COVID-19 related deaths in Ireland.

As of midnight Wednesday 23rd December, the HPSC has been notified of 922 confirmed cases of COVID-19. There is now a total of 83,073* confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ireland.

Of the cases notified today:

  • 438 are men, 477 are women

  • 68% are under 45 years of age

  • The median age is 33 years old

  • 337 in Dublin, 73 in Cork, 70 in Limerick, 56 in Wexford, 43 in Galway and the remaining 343 cases are spread across all other counties.

As of 8am today, 255 COVID-19 patients are hospitalised, of which 22 are in ICU. 37 additional hospitalisations in the past 24 hours.

Dr Tony Holohan, Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health said: “Unfortunately, none of the indicators of this disease are showing encouraging signs. Ireland now has the fastest growing incidence rate in the European Union.”

“This Christmas, the best present you can give your loved ones is to strictly adhere to the public health advice.”

“Make your Christmas safe, meaningful and memorable for the right reasons. Stay home, stay safe and stay well. Limit contact as much as you can and ensure you and your loved ones have a happy and safe Christmas.”

The COVID-19 Dashboard provides up-to-date information on the key indicators of COVID-19 in the community.

*Validation of data at the HPSC has resulted in the denotification of 4 confirmed case. The figure of 83,073 confirmed cases reflects this. 

County

  

Today's cases (to midnight 23Dec2020)

  

14-Day incidence rate per 100,000 population (to 23Dec2020)

  

New Cases during last 14 days

(to 23Dec2020)

  

Ireland

  

922

  

166.0

  

7,906

  

Donegal

  

38

  

324.1

  

516

  

Wexford

  

56

  

291.9

  

437

  

Louth

  

24

  

291.0

  

375

  

Kilkenny

  

28

  

252.9

  

251

  

Limerick

  

70

  

250.4

  

488

  

Monaghan

  

<5

  

249.2

  

153

  

Carlow

  

18

  

212.5

  

121

  

Laois

  

12

  

207.8

  

176

  

Dublin

  

337

  

199.4

  

2,687

  

Kerry

  

39

  

189.6

  

280

  

Cavan

  

6

  

186.4

  

142

  

Meath

  

30

  

158.9

  

310

  

Longford

  

<5

  

137.0

  

56

  

Waterford

  

22

  

136.0

  

158

  

Sligo

  

10

  

132.8

  

87

  

Kildare

  

21

  

129.9

  

289

  

Mayo

  

<5

  

115.7

  

151

  

Cork

  

73

  

98.6

  

535

  

Galway

  

43

  

86.4

  

223

  

Wicklow

  

14

  

82.9

  

118

  

Tipperary

  

33

  

76.5

  

122

  

Offaly

  

6

  

74.4

  

58

  

Westmeath

  

15

  

73.2

  

65

  

Roscommon

  

<5

  

57.3

  

37

  

Clare

  

11

  

48.0

  

57

  

Leitrim

  

<5

  

43.7

  

14

  

 

Tidy Towns:

There will be a Tidy Towns contest in 2021.

The competition, which has been held annually for the past 60 years, was cancelled during the summer due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

An additional 1,000 euro will also be provided to each community group for next year's event.

Minister for Rural and Community Development, Heather Humphreys, says there are a number of areas the groups should look at:

NI:

Northern Ireland has confirmed its first case of the coronavirus variant that was initially detected in southern England.

Health Minister, Robin Swann, says he'd been expecting the news.

His officials believe it's been in circulation at a low level in the community for several weeks.

Vaccine:

The government's being urged to make homeless people a priority in the rollout of the Covid-19 vaccine next year.

The first batch of the Pfizer jabs is due to arrive on Saturday, while vaccinations are to start with nursing homes residents on December 30th.

The Peter McVerry Trust says there are currently 8,500 homeless people in Ireland, and that half of those are vulnerable.

CEO Pat Doyle says they need to be included near the top end of the vaccine programme:

New Strain:

Health officials say they don't think a new strain of coronavirus detected in Ireland is behind the recent rise in cases.

The variant was first picked up in the UK - and was found in 10 per cent of samples analysed here last weekend.

It's been detected mainly in the east of the country and is likely to have been here since the second week of December.

Head of the National Virus Reference Laboratory, Cillian de Gascun, says they'll be monitoring the new strain:

NPHET:

The National Public Health Emergency Team has recommended the closure of non-essential retail from St. Stephen's Day.

The Chief Medical Officer has warned the spread of Covid-19 is "out of control" with the number of cases doubling in less than a week.

A further 938 new cases were confirmed last night with 13 additional deaths, while the R number has risen to between 1.5 and 1.8 - the highest since March.

Restaurants and pubs serving food will close at 3pm this afternoon as part of new restrictions - while hairdressers and barbers will also shut later.

But Professor Philip Nolan, chair of NPHET's modelling advisory group, doesn't think those measures will bring the virus back under control:

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