Covid-19: 1,392 new cases reported in State on Friday

Health Protection Surveillance Centre reports 250 deaths between April and September

A further 1,392 new cases of Covid-19 were reported by the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) on Friday.

As of 8am on Friday, there were 288 Covid-19 patients in the country’s hospitals with 73 of those in intensive care. The five day moving average now stands at 1,311.

Earlier the HSE’s Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) said there were 250 deaths of people due to Covid-19 between April and the beginning of September.

Total doses distributed to Ireland Total doses administered in Ireland
9,452,860 7,856,558

Figures from April 1st to September 11th of this year, which were published on Friday, show that over half of the deaths (59.4 per cent) were notified in persons who were not vaccinated against the virus or not registered as vaccinated on the State’s national immunisation system.

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The HPSC said 40.6 per cent of deaths were notified in persons who had received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine prior to death.

Sixty-one of those who died of Covid-19 during that period had an epidemiological date of infection 14 days or more after receiving all recommended doses of a vaccine and “therefore there are 61 breakthrough infections”, the HPSC said.

Of those 61 individuals, 34 were male and 27 were female. The median age was 82 years with an age range from 54 to 97 years. The mean age was 81 years.

Forty-four persons (72 per cent) were reported on the Computerised Infectious Disease Reporting (CIDR) information system used by the HPSC to have an underlying medical condition.

The report does not include information on which Covid-19 vaccines were received.

"Ireland has received and administered more of some vaccine brands than others and additionally, each vaccine has a different dosing schedule so some people reach their 14th day after vaccination more quickly than others," the HPSC said. "These factors make it difficult to directly compare by vaccine brand."

A further 1,413 cases of Covid-19 were reported in the State on Thursday while the five-day moving average is 1,395.

The latest HSE figures show there were 274 Covid-19 patients in hospital on Thursday night, with 66 in intensive care.

Cork University Hospital (29) and Galway University Hospital (25) have the highest number of Covid-19 patients in the country.

Sarah Burns

Sarah Burns

Sarah Burns is a reporter for The Irish Times