Covid-19 latest: 520 new cases, one additional death reported
Sixteen new cases have been reported in Cork. Picture Denis Minihane.
Health authorities have this evening announced that the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) has today been notified of one additional death related to Covid-19.
It brings the number of Covid-19 related deaths reported in Ireland to date to 4,588.
As of midnight, Sunday 21st March, the HPSC has been notified of 520 confirmed cases of Covid-19.
A total of 231,119 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Ireland have now been reported.
Of the cases notified today 258 are men / 262 are women, 79% are under 45 years of age and the median age is 28 years old.
There were 242 cases in Dublin, 36 in Meath, 30 in Offaly, 29 in Kildare, 25 in Wicklow and the remaining 158 cases are spread across 20 other counties.
16 new cases were reported in Cork.
A total of 265 new Covid-19 cases have been reported in the county in the last 14 days and the 14-day incidence rate per 100,000 population is 48.8, the third-lowest incidence reported nationally.
As of 8am today, 359 Covid-19 patients are hospitalised, of which 81 are in ICU. 14 additional hospitalisations in the past 24 hours.
As of March 19th 2021, 668,529 doses of Covid-19 vaccine have been administered in Ireland:
Speaking this evening, Professor Philip Nolan, Chair of the NPHET Irish Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group said; “For the week of the 7th-13th of March, 60% of disease incidence is taking place through close contact transmission and 24% in the community. 59% of transmissions are occurring in households. Outside of the household, almost half of transmissions are occurring in social gatherings and the workplace.”
Dr. Cillian de Gascun, Medical Virologist and Director of the National Virus Reference Laboratory, said: “The B117 variant, Ireland’s most dominant variant of Covid-19 accounts for more than 90% of our cases and is extremely transmissible. Public health advice aims to limit the opportunities this virus has to spread, and it should be noted that B117 does not need much opportunity to do so. The most effective way to stop the spread of this variant and all variants of COVID-19 is to limit your social contacts and follow public health advice.”
Meanwhile, Dr. Ronan Glynn, Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health, said; “It is a very welcome development to see new visitation guidance for nursing homes coming into effect from today. As we begin to experience the benefits of vaccination, it is a reminder of what we are collectively working towards, a vaccination rollout that, along with our other protective measures, will end this pandemic.
“People have worked exceptionally hard over the past three months to reduce transmission in our communities. We have shown time and again that we can act collectively to protect one another. Please keep this going over the coming weeks.”
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