Coronavirus: 811 more cases as Cavan emerges as new hotspot

There have been 811 new cases of Covid-19 and three further coronavirus-related deaths reported by the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet).

The latest figures on Tuesday bring to 44,159 the number of confirmed cases in the State since the pandemic began, while the death toll now stands at 1,830.

Of the latest cases, 190 are in Dublin, 141 in Cork, 62 in Wexford, 51 in Kerry, 50 in Clare and the remaining 317 cases are spread across all remaining counties.

The median age is 30 years and 70 per cent are under 45 years of age.

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There were 234 Covid-19 patients in hospital on Tuesday afternoon, including 32 in ICU. Nphet said there have been 22 additional hospitalisations in the past 24 hours.

In a statement, Dr Tony Holohan, chief medical officer at the Department of Health said: “We have widespread community transmission in the country.

“The spread of Covid-19 is a whole population issue, which is why we’re appealing to every single individual, every single family, household, organisation, workplace, to act on public health advice. You are the frontline defence against this disease.”

Dr Ronan Glynn, deputy chief medical officer said: “If we see community transmission patterns continuing to grow, we’re going to see more vulnerable groups being infected and the result of that, unfortunately will be further hospitalisations and deaths.

“Limiting your contacts, avoiding crowds and following basic public health measures will ultimately save lives.”

Cavan is the newest hotspot for Covid-19 with 22 new cases, giving it an incidence of 412.2 cases per 100,000 people in the last 14 days, according to the latest update from Nphet.

Its figures are now higher than those of Donegal, where the incidence was 354.9 on Monday evening. Monaghan, with a falling incidence of 312.8, had the third-highest figures by county in the Republic.

Dublin, with an incidence of 180.9, now ranks 11th in the country, well behind Cork, at 199.1.

Waterford has the lowest incidence, at 66.3. All 26 counties recorded new cases in the past 24 hours.

Of the almost 8,000 cases occurring in the past fortnight, half arose from close contact with a case but 1,763 were the result of community transmission, according to the Health Protection Surveillance Centre. Some 152 patients and 99 staff acquired the disease in a healthcare setting.

Northern figures

In Northern Ireland, seven more deaths and 863 further cases of Covid-19 were reported as the Northern Executive met to discuss the rising incidence of the disease.

The latest figures bring the total number of coronavirus-related deaths in the North since the start of the pandemic to 598 and the total number of positive cases to 21,898.

In the past seven days 6,286 people tested positive for coronavirus in Northern Ireland, almost 900 per day.

There are now 150 people in Northern Ireland hospitals being treated for Covid-19, with 23 in intensive care units and 15 on ventilators.

By far the highest incidence of the disease is in the Derry and Strabane council area which over the past week saw 970 cases per 100,000 of the population.

This is more than double the incidence of the next highest area, Belfast, which is experiencing 462 cases per 100,000 followed by Mid-Ulster with 401 cases per 100,000.

The lowest number of cases is in the Mid and East Antrim council area – 95 cases per 100,000 – and Ards and North Down – 135 cases per 100,000.

Against this rise in deaths and cases the Northern Executive is meeting to discuss imposing greater restrictions.

Sources said that the North's chief medical and science officers, Dr Michael McBride and Prof Ian Young have recommended an imminent four to six weeks lockdown period with a further similar lockdown in the new year.

Some divisions appear to be opening up however between the DUP and some of the other parties.

On Monday DUP leader and First Minister Arlene Foster said further restrictions were not inevitable if people properly observed rules such as mask-wearing, hand-washing and social distancing.

Sinn Féin on the other hand has indicated that it favours stronger regulations to try to limit the rise in the virus.