Professor Philip Nolan says Ireland will likely record higher Covid cases than previously expected during the first week of March.
NPHET yesterday reported 35 deaths and 613 new cases of the virus, nine in Carlow with five in Kilkenny.
The number of people in public hospitals with the virus dropped to 585 last night, with 141 in Intensive Care. Four of these are at the unit in St Luke’s General for Carlow and Kilkenny, among 10 patients with the virus there while 1 is in ICU at University Hospital Waterford, among 30 people with Coronavirus after two new admissions, while two others are showing symptoms.
Last week, NPHET said Ireland could record between 400 and 500 cases per day by next week.
But Professor Philip Nolan, who chairs its modelling group, says the actual number will likely be higher.
While the deputy chief medical officer, Ronan Glynn, says the country could return to ‘close to’ normal by the end of the year.
Local Electoral Areas
The centre of Galway city has an incidence rate of Covid-19 which is over five times the national average.
The local electoral area had a 14-day rate of 1,292 per 100,000 people on Monday.
That compares to the national average of 240, while the second highest is Ballymun-Finglas LEA in Dublin, at 798.
Across Carlow and Kilkenny’s seven electoral areas Tullow has the highest rate of 214.5 followed by Piltown (210.8), Carlow Town (194.3), Bagenalstown (172.7), Castlecomer (152.7) and Kilkenny City (86.4) with Callan Thomastown the lowest locally at 82.8.
New Strain
Ireland has recorded its first case of the new B1-525 strain of covid 19.
NPHET member Dr Cillian De Gascun says this variant could have an impact on vaccine effectiveness, however more studies need to be done.
Travel
Professor Gabriel Scally says Ireland’s new mandatory hotel quarantine laws are only a ‘half-door measure’.
It’s after the Dáil yesterday passed legislation that will force people arriving from 20 high-risk countries to quarantine in a hotel for two weeks.
The Opposition wants to extend that to all passengers coming here for non-essential reasons.
Professor Scally says he would also prefer blanket hotel quarantine for all arrivals.
Editor of Air and Travel magazine, Eoghan Corry thinks Ireland needs to change its tactics on quarantine for air travel.
In the UK
Britain’s Queen says she’s those unsure of getting a Covid-19 vaccine need to think about others.
She’s thanked volunteers in the UK for helping roll out the vaccination programme, where more than 18 million people have received the injection.
She says getting the vaccine didn’t hurt at all.
In the US
Joe Biden has warned Americans “this is not a time to relax”, despite the country administering 50 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine since his swearing-in as President.
He confirmed more than 12 million injections will be deployed in the coming week, but says people must remain vigilant.
Mr Biden hopes they can accelerate the number of inoculations, as supplies increase.
