Kilkenny again has the lowest rate of Covid-19 in the country while Carlow’s not too far behind.
It’s third-lowest on a 14-day incidence rate of 33 per 100,000 people after no new cases were reported last evening. While Kilkenny’s rate is 15 after up to four more new instances among 394 across the country.
No new deaths were announced last evening.
The five-day moving average in both counties is one.
It’s as the number of patients in public hospitals with Covid-19 has dropped by over 22% in the past week.
Last Monday night, which was a Bank Holiday had 263 people with the disease on wards, while last night that had fallen to 203 with one person at St Luke’s General Hospital for Carlow and Kilkenny understood to have the virus.
Ronan Tynan
Kilkenny’s global singing star Ronan Tynan has returned to his medical roots to help vaccinate against Covid-19.
The world-famous tenor recently told our Sue Nunn this would take place when he was on The Way It Is to discuss the recently departed Veronica Dunne.
Listen back here:
Fourth Wave
NPHET says the risk of a fourth wave of Covid-19 remains ‘considerable’ if restrictions are eased too quickly.
It’ll appear before today’s Oireachtas Health Committee to provide an update on the fight against the virus.
Acting Chief Medical Officer, Dr Ronan Glynn, will tell members a further wave can be mitigated if social contacts remain unchanged over the next six weeks.
Immunologist, Dr Lara Dungan, says the risk of another spike in cases is a real possibility so long as young people remain unvaccinated.
AstraZeneca Vaccination Clinics
All AstraZeneca vaccination clinics due to take place today have been cancelled
The Acting Chief Medical Officer says limiting the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine to over 60s “will likely have an impact” on the country’s vaccine programme.
However, Dr Ronan Glynn says its extent “remains to be seen”.
The recommendation from the National Immunisation Advisory Committee follows concerns over potential links between the vaccine and very rare blood clots.
Dr Ronan Glynn says it’ll take a number of days to calculate the impact of the decision on the country’s vaccine programme.
While the head of the National Immunisation Advisory Committee says people in their 60s won’t have a choice of which Covid vaccine they get.
But Professor Karina Butler says those offered AstraZeneca in the coming weeks should understand it is safe and effective.
