The Health Protection Surveillance Centre has today been notified of 4 additional deaths related to COVID-19.
There has been a total of 2,204 COVID-19 related deaths in Ireland.
As of midnight Saturday 26th December, the HPSC has been notified of 744 confirmed cases of COVID-19. There is now a total of 86,129 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ireland.
Of the cases notified today:
- 388 are men / 354 are women
- 64% are under 45 years of age
- The median age is 34 years old
- 246 in Dublin, 131 in Cork, 51 in Limerick, 40 in Wexford, 33 in Donegal and the remaining 243 cases are spread across 19 other counties.
Of today’s cases, 17 are in Clare, bringing the 14-day incidence rate of the virus here to 115.3 per 100,000 population – the 8th lowest in the country.
This is the highest daily increase there has been in Clare for almost 6 weeks.
As of 8am today 324 COVID-19 patients are hospitalised, of which 26 are in ICU. 50 additional hospitalisations in the past 24 hours.
Dr Tony Holohan, Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health said: “We have seen a significant increase in the number of hospitalisations in the last two weeks from less than 190 to 324 today. This indicates a deteriorating disease trajectory nationally and is a significant reminder of the severity of this disease.”
“There have been further increases across key indicators of COVID-19 right across the country and the growth rate of the epidemic has accelerated in recent days.”
“Due to the lower volume of tests being carried out over Christmas Day and yesterday, we believe there are higher levels of disease circulating in the community than today’s reported case numbers reflect. We expect, therefore, to see a large increase in cases reported over the coming days.”
“If we do not act now to stop the spread of COVID-19, we will not be able to protect those in our society that are most at risk of serious illness or death.”
“Stay home, do not visit friends or family unless you are providing essential care and do not have visitors to your home. Follow the public health advice.”
