Covid-19 latest: Hundreds of cases reported in Cork in recent weeks linked to outbreaks

Hundreds of cases of Covid-19 reported in Cork over the four weeks up to March 5 have been linked to outbreaks of the virus.

New figures published by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) give an insight into the number of Covid-19 cases reported up to that date linked to an outbreak, which is defined as two or more cases of laboratory-confirmed Covid-19, or one laboratory-confirmed case of Covid-19, and at least one additional case of illness with symptoms consistent with Covid-19 infection.

The figures show that in the four weeks to March 5, 4,230 cases reported nationally have been linked to an outbreak and of these 432 (10%) were in nursing homes, 189 (4%) were in hospital or a community hospital/long-stay unit and 269 (6%) were in residential institutions.

There were 505 cases (12%) linked to an outbreak in the workplace in the last four weeks, 210 were related to childcare facilities, and 1,144 cases were linked to outbreaks in private houses.

Of the 4,230 cases reported nationally, 431 of these were in Cork.

The number of cases linked with outbreaks in Cork is a significant drop on that which was reported for the previous four-week period when 1,774 cases of the virus reported in Cork were linked with outbreaks.

For the most recent week in which data is available, 74 cases of Covid-19 reported in Cork were linked to outbreaks, the lowest such number reported since early December.

The CSO has cautioned that because of the way this data is reported, and because Public Health is prioritising the reporting of outbreaks in key settings, that the number of private house outbreaks is underestimated.