Chief Medical Officer “concerned” as Covid cases appear to be on the rise with 456 new incidences, up to 14 in Carlow and Kilkenny

Six more Covid-19 related deaths, all of them in November, have been announced with 456 new confirmed cases of the virus.

Of these ten are in Kilkenny with up to four others in Carlow.

Slightly more women than men were infected (246/210), 69% of them are aged under 45 years with the median age being 33.

According to the Health Protection Surveillance Centre there has been a total of 1,978 Covid-19 related deaths in Ireland, after 29 were denotified, and 67,526 detections of the virus to date.

As of 2pm this afternoon 254 patients with the virus were in hospitals across the country, 32 of these in intensive care units. While there have been 11 additional hospitalisations in the most recent 24 hour stretch.

Incidence Rate …

The nation’s 14 day incidence rate per 100,000 now stands at 130.2. Kilkenny’s is above that at 132, making it now the tenth highest in the country while, in something of a role reversal, Carlow is now in the lower five counties with a rate of 96.6.

Chief Medical Officer, Dr Tony Holohan says “Analysis of today’s data shows the five-day moving average of case numbers has increased from 354 to 392. We have seen higher numbers in recent days than we expected based on the encouraging trends of the last three weeks. We are concerned that this progress is at risk. We have to remember that the virus is still very active in the community and we cannot let our guard slip. NPHET will continue to monitor the situation closely over the coming days”.

He adds “We all need to focus on what we can do to stop the spread of this disease; wash our hands regularly, wear a face covering, keep our distance from others, avoid crowds, limit our social network, know the symptoms, self-isolate and contact a GP if we have them. Stay at home and restrict our movements if you are a close contact of a confirmed case.”

Check out the COVID-19 Dashboard which provides up-to-date information on the key indicators of Covid-19 in the community.