*Photograph: John Mangan
A decline in the daily incidence of COVID-19 has been observed while the volume of the disease in communities remains high with Clare recording 15 new cases among the 928 nationally as the country’s death toll exceeded 3000.
Clare’s rate of COVID-19 continues to drop with 15 additional persons diagnosed with the virus. The county’s 14 day incidence rate per 100k of the population has reduced further and now stands at 536.1.
Nationally, daily cases have dipped below 1,000 for the first time this year. Of the 928 cases, 257 are in Dublin, 115 in Cork, 71 in Louth, 53 in Galway, 45 in Limerick and the remaining 387 cases are spread across all other counties.
Notification has been issued to the Health Protection Surveillance Centre of 90 further deaths which brings the country’s death toll past 3,000. 89 of the deaths occurred in the month of January with a median age of 83, the ages range from 48 to 99. Since the emergence of Coronavirus, 3,066 people have died in the Republic of Ireland.
As outlined by members of NPHET, hospital numbers will take time to reduce. As of 2pm, 1,750 persons were in hospital as a result of the virus with 216 of these in critical care. 65 hospitalisations were recorded in the past 24 hours.
Chief Medical Officer, Dr Tony Holohan noted that to date in January 2021, more than 96.000 cases have been reported which has passed the figure of 93,500 for the entirety of 2020. “The decline in daily incidence of COVID-19 has begun, however the volume of disease in our communities remains very high”. Six additional cases linked to the South African variant have been identified, he confirmed.
Dr Holohan added, “The downturn in incidence has been achieved through the determination of people across the country to stay at home, to work from home and to avoid meeting and socialising with others. It is imperative that everyone continues to strictly adhere to the public health advice to protect ourselves and our loved ones from this highly-infectious disease.”
