*Photograph: John Mangan
Nine new cases of COVID-19 have been diagnosed in Clare among 763 nationally with an additional 28 deaths related to the virus notified.
A further nine positive cases of COVID-19 have emerged in Clare, the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) have stated.
With a figure of 136.3, Clare has the seventh lowest 14 day incidence per 100k of the population of all counties in the Republic of Ireland.
An additional 763 positive cases are known in the country, 251 in Dublin, 84 in Galway, 57 in Kildare, 47 in Limerick, 42 in Waterford and the remaining 282 cases are spread across all other counties.
28 further deaths have been notified to the Health Protection Surveillance Centre. 27 of these deaths occurred in February, 1 in January. The median age of those who died was 79 years and the age range was 32-97 years.
Hospital figures from NPHET indicate that 151 persons were in critical care as of 8am on Friday, the figure is included in the 754 patients hospitalised due to COVID-19. 46 additional hospitalisations were recorded in the past 24 hours.
293,752 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in Ireland as of Tuesday.
Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Dr Ronan Glynn stated the incidence “remains very high” across the country. “But better days are in sight. People continue to respond to public health advice and act in solidarity with one another. We have a dedicated and committed health workforce and we are learning more about this disease all the time. We now have three very safe and effective vaccines being rolled out and supply should increase very substantially over the coming weeks. Please continue in your efforts as we seek to ensure that as many people as possible can benefit from vaccination.”
