Coronavirus: Westmeath has highest rate of Covid-19 outside of Dublin

Westmeath currently has the highest rate of coronavirus cases outside of Dublin, analysis of the Health Protection Surveillance Centre’s data shows.

This Irish Times analysis of the HPSC’s figures is based on the latest breakdown of data by county made available of 2,990 confirmed cases as of midnight, March 30th.

The analysis shows that the highest rates of coronavirus, also known as Covid-19, are currently in Leinster with Dublin having 122.1 cases per 100,000 population followed by Westmeath (90.1), both of which are much higher than the rest of the country. Calculating the rate per 100,000 population allows for a like by like comparison between counties.

The rate is based on confirmed cases only and does not paint the full picture of any particular county with rates likely to be higher in all areas. As of Sunday, 15,000 people were waiting to be tested for Covid-19 and about 1,500 people are being tested per day for the virus.

While these rates change on a daily basis, Westmeath has been among the counties with the highest rates over the past number of days and its incidence rate is currently 13 times greater than Carlow, the county with the lowest rate of Covid-19 cases, at 7 cases per 100,000 population.

While Cork has the second highest number of cases in the country (255 of 2,990 cases) and a rate of 47 cases per 100,000 population, Tipperary currently has the highest rate in all of Munster at 53.3 cases per 100,000 population.

Galway has the highest rate of cases in Connacht at 34.1 per 100,000 population while Cavan has the highest in Ulster at 47.3 cases per 100,000 population.

Of the 2,990 cases analysed by the HPSC, 48 per cent are male and 50 per cent are female, with 134 clusters involving 563 cases. The median age is 48 years old.

Northern Ireland

Public Health Agency data published on Wednesday shows there are 689 cases of Covid-19, with 30 deaths across the North’s local government districts. An Irish Times analysis of the North’s Public Health Agency data shows that Belfast, has the largest number of cases (200) and the highest rate of Covid-19 infections of all local government authorities in the North at a rate of 58.5 cases per 100,00 population. Belfast’s rate is almost five times that of Causeway and Glens local government district which on Wednesday had a rate of 12.5 confirmed cases per 100,000. It is unknown what districts 39 of the 689 came from. The North and South are taking differnt approches to testing with the Republic following a South Korean model of testing, tracing and isolation to suppress cases whereas the North is not testing as widely.