*Photograph: John Mangan
An additional 12 persons have tested positive for COVID-19 in Clare among 575 nationally with an extra 45 deaths linked to the virus reported.
In a statement on Tuesday evening, the the National Public Health Emergency Team detailed that 12 more cases of the virus were known in Co Clare. It means that in the past fortnight, there have been 177 new cases in Clare.
Clare’s 14 incidence rate per 100k of the population stands at 149 which is below the national equivalent of 240.4 and is the seventh lowest rate in the Republic of Ireland.
A further 45 deaths related to COVID-19 have been notified to the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC). 41 of these deaths occurred in February and 4 in January. The median age of those who died was 84 years and the age range was 55-104 years.
Hospital figures from 8am on Tuesday show 150 of the 693 hospitalised persons with COVID-19 are in critical care. 37 additional hospitalisations occurred in the past 24 hours.
As of February 20th, 350,322 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in Ireland.
