Number of recorded Covid-19 cases up by 20% this week

New Covid-19 cases reported to the health service increased by 20 per cent last week, according to latest figures from the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC).

The weekly HPSC report, published on Thursday, stated there were 12,488 confirmed infections recorded last week, an increase on the 10,434 cases the week before. There were 11 notifications of deaths of people with the virus last week, the report noted.

The highest incidence of officially notified cases was among those 35-44 years of age, who accounted for more than a fifth , the report indicated.

There were 233 cases among those over 85 years of age last week and 40 per cent of those were hospitalised with the virus. A quarter of the 533 people aged between 74 and 85 recorded as confirmed cases last week were hospitalised, the report found.

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The latest hospital figures show there are just under 800 patients in hospital who had tested positive for , with 33 confirmed cases in intensive care.

Public transport problems

Meanwhile, the Dáil heard on Thursday that bus operator Go-Ahead Ireland and several other public transport providers are experiencing “higher-than-normal” levels of Covid-related staff absences.

Minister of State for Transport Hildegarde Naughton said there has been a “knock-on effect” on service delivery, with some routes not operating as scheduled, amid a recent surge in infections.

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Ms Naughton was responding to Sinn Féin TD John Brady, who said people in his constituency of Wicklow had been “left abandoned at bus stops” because of Go-Ahead services being cancelled at late notice.

“It’s now developed into a situation where people will not use those particular [bus] routes because they cannot rely on them and people are resorting back into the car,” said Mr Brady .

Go-Ahead operates a number of Dublin city bus routes, having taken them over from Dublin Bus in 2018. It also operates some commuter routes in Dublin, Wicklow, Kildare and Offaly.

Mr Brady said prior to the pandemic, the “excuse” from Go-Ahead Ireland in relation to poor services was there was “a bedding-in” period.

“Over the last two years and right up until this current moment in time, the excuse is down to Covid, that staff are missing or whatever,” he said. “But clearly there are staffing issues within Go-Ahead that is resulting in the poor service that is being provided and that is fundamentally down to pay and conditions that are being offered to drivers.”

In response, Ms Naughton said the pandemic had a “significant impact” on the staff of the various public transport operators, with absences fluctuating “as each new wave of the virus spread across the population”.

“Unfortunately Go-Ahead Ireland, in addition to a number of other public transport providers, is experiencing higher-than-normal levels of Covid-related staff absences at present,” she said. “As a result of these higher levels of staff absenteeism across the transport network, there has been a knock-on effect on service delivery resulting in some services not operating as scheduled.”

Meanwhile, Aer Lingus said on Thursday it had been forced to cancel five return flights from Dublin on Thursday and three on Friday due to “a spike in Covid cases”.