Cases & incidence rate in Clare drop further while hospitals remain at surge capacity

Each member of the public must act as if they are infectious is the advice of the Chief Medical Officer as Clare records 23 new cases of COVID-19 among the 1,910 nationally with 77 further deaths observed.

Once again, Clare has noted a drop in the amount of daily cases and its 14 day incidence rate. Health officials have stated 23 people have been diagnosed with the virus while the county now has an incidence rate of 835.7.

Nationally, 1,910 extra cases are known while five cases have been de-notified. Of the new cases, 710 are in Dublin, 150 in Cork, 103 in Meath, 102 in Limerick, 86 in Louth, and the remaining 759 cases are spread across all other counties.

An additional 77 deaths have been notified to the Health Protection Surveillance Centre. All but one of these occurred this month. The median age of those who died is 84 years and the age range is 43-98 years. The figure announced is the second highest daily number of fatalities reported.

Dr Vida Hamilton, national clinical advisor and group lead, acute hospitals has outlined that hospitals are at surge capacity with an “extremely high risk” situation in hospitals across the country.

Latest data which is from 2pm on Saturday has flagged that 217 persons are in critical care as a result of Coronavirus, they are among the 1,892 persons in hospital. 59 hospitals occurred in the past 24 hours.

In a statement on Saturday, the Chief Medical Officer commented, “Through the solidarity shown by families and communities across the country in recent weeks, we are beginning to flatten the curve of COVID-19 infection. Each individual effort to follow the public health advice is making an impact, but we can only continue this positive trend and drive down incidence in the community by continuing to stay at home and avoid meeting or mixing with others in our social circle, including for any close family gatherings, such as birthdays or funerals, as these can be ‘super-spreader’ events.

“We know it is possible to have COVID-19 without displaying symptoms, so we all need to behave as though we are infectious and minimise our close contacts with others. If you suspect that you might be ill, isolate away from others in your household, let your close contacts know and come forward for testing as soon as possible,” Dr Tony Holohan added.