*Photograph: John Mangan
A further reduction in the spread of COVID-19 has been recorded in Clare with 19 new cases known in the county among the 1,247 nationally.
Co Clare has an additional 19 new cases of COVID-19, according to provisional figures from the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET). Nationally, there are 1,247 new cases with 430 in Dublin, 97 in Wexford, 87 in Cork, 84 in Limerick, 76 in Galway and the remaining 473 cases are spread across all other counties.
There has been another drop in the 14 day incidence rate of the virus per 100k of the population in Clare. The figure of 308.9 is the fifth lowest incidence rate for any county in the Republic of Ireland.
Notification has been issued to the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) of fifteen extra deaths associated with COVID-19. All deaths occurred in January, the median age of those who died is 84 years and the age range is 68-99 years. There has been a total of 3,307 COVID-19 related deaths in Ireland.
Validated figures from the HPSC have shown that Clare had 11 new cases on Friday and not the provisional 18 announced on Saturday.
Latest hospital figures from 2pm on Sunday have revealed 1,516 persons remain in hospital because of the virus, 211 of these are in critical care. 39 additional hospitalisations occurred in the past 24 hours.
Dr Tony Holohan in a statement on Sunday evening encouraged employers to continue to facilitate working from home and to have safe working environments in place. “There is an onus on employers to ensure that, in the first instance, staff are encouraged to work from home and in cases where that is not possible, that their workplaces are safe for staff and customers and in full compliance with infection prevention and control measures”.
He added, “The HPSC has comprehensive guidance on outbreak management and infection prevention control measures that every employer should be familiar with and activating on their premises. I encourage all employers and managers to review their workplaces and ensure they have effective measures in place”.
