There have been a further 444 cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Ireland today, with 158 of those cases in Dublin.
That means there's now been a total of 63,483 cases of the coronavirus in Ireland since the pandemic began.
Sadly, there have been eight more lives lost due to coronavirus related illness, bringing the total in the country to 1,930.
Of the cases notified today:
- 208 are men / 235 are women
- 61% are under 45 years of age
- The median age is 37 years old
- 158 in Dublin, 48 in Cork, 36 in Galway, 28 in Limerick and 174 cases spread across 19 other counties.
As of 2pm today 310 COVID-19 patients are hospitalised, of which 41 are in ICU. 25 additional hospitalisations in the past 24 hours.
Dr Tony Holohan, Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health said: “Every piece of public health advice we have given from the outset of this pandemic is designed to keep everyone protected from the impact of COVID-19. If you are a close contact of a confirmed case, you are asked to restrict your movements for 14 days and to attend for your two free COVID-19 test, one on day 0 and one on day 7. This is because as an identified close contact, you have come into contact with the virus. It may take some time for this to become apparent, or for you to become infectious.”
“By staying at home for this entire 14 day period, you are helping to stop the spread of this dangerous disease. In following this important guidance, you are helping to bring this virus right back down to where we all need it to be and playing your part in this national effort.”
Positive figures released today show that Ireland has recorded a remarkable turnaround in its COVID-19 response with cases here falling even as the virus surges across much of Europe.
As of today, Ireland's two-week incidence rate per 100,000 is 220.1 – a figure that puts us far below Spain, France and the UK, among a host of other European countries.
And when it comes to deaths per 100,000 over the last fortnight, we're one of the seven best countries in the EU – a positive sign for a country that faced spiralling cases just weeks ago.
But Dublin is still some way off the six best-performing counties that are in the best shape to exit lockdown in December.
However some concern has been raised about Dublin, as the capital is proving stubborn when it comes to reducing the levels of the virus.
The 14-day incidence rate of confirmed cases per 100,000 population is one of the key metrics used by experts to determine how severe Covid-19 outbreaks are.
In Dublin, that rate was yesterday sitting at 219.5 - far below Cavan at 475.2 but high above Leitrim at 84.3.
