How bad is Covid in my area? One major hotspot as Ireland hit by Omicron cases surge

Ireland was hit by a surge in cases over the festive period as the ultra-transmissible Omicron variant quickly became dominant.

Infections skyrocketed in particular over Christmas week as millions of people across the country gathered, largely indoors, to celebrate both Christmas Day itself and the New Year.

And the latest statistics released by the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) show the areas that were hardest-hit over the period.

The most recent data covers the last week of 2021, running from St Stephen's Day up to New Year's Day.

The seven-day incidence rate of confirmed cases per 100,000 population for each county shows the scale of the outbreak in a region.

Grafton Street during the Covid 19 Coronavirus pandemic in Dublin’s city centre. (Gareth Chaney/Collins)

And the biggest hotspot in the country by a significant distance was Westmeath, with a whopping incidence of over 3000.

Second was Clare at 1974.5, followed closely by Kilkenny and Longford on 1855.2 and 1820.3 respectively.

Carlow, Laois, Offaly, and Donegal were also some of the areas where the virus has been spreading widely.

And while everywhere saw widespread transmission,

Here is the full breakdown of incidence rates county-by-county:

Westmeath - 3056.2

Clare - 1974.5

Kilkenny - 1855.2

Longford - 1820.3

Carlow - 1798.6

Laois - 1728.5

Offaly - 1689.3

Donegal - 1593.7

Louth - 1547.1

Galway - 1524.1

Dublin - 1412.0

Roscommon - 1378.9

Leitrim - 1295.1

Limerick - 1250.9

Sligo - 1246.7

Meath - 1232.5

Tipperary - 1227.2

Monaghan - 1207.1

Mayo - 1172.4

Kildare - 1133.5

Wicklow - 1127.6

Cork - 1110.6

Cavan - 1058.1

Waterford - 1042.4

Wexford - 956.4

Kerry - 884.9