"While we are seeing the first glimmer of hope in respect of our daily case figures and positivity rates, the situation in hospitals and ICUs around the country continues to worsen day on day. We know that hospitalisations occur some weeks after a confirmed case is notified, and mortality after that again. That means we are unfortunately set for a period of time where the situation in our hospitals gets worse before it gets better.

"The best way forward now is for all of us to stay at home. Staying at home and cutting your contacts right down to only those in your immediate household is the one vital way we will protect our healthcare system as it struggles with the burdens brought on by this surge in COVID-19 infections."

"Over the past weeks, we have seen a swift and sharp spike in admissions into critical care units across the country. As of this morning, we have 146 people sadly in ICU. This is nearing the springtime peak of 155 people in critical care. The potential long-term impacts on these patients’ health is stark and significant. ICUs are not where we want anyone to be. They are our very last line of defence against COVID-19. The best way we can protect our ICU capacity and those that work in them is to stay at home."

"The alarming level of disease is unprecedented in terms of our experience of the levels of COVID-19 in the community. We are seeing numbers of cases per day, and numbers in hospital, that we just could not have comprehended prior to Christmas. The tools to address this accelerated growth rate are in our hands and we know from experience how we can significantly suppress transmission of the virus.

"We are beginning to see the first signs of the impact of the latest public health measures, with test positivity falling and case numbers starting to stabilise, but this will only continue if every one of us is committed to following the public health advice to stay at home and work from home as much as possible. This is vital in order to make significant headway over the next 7 days and to reduce the pressure on our health services and healthcare colleagues."

"Further testing of COVID-19 samples indicates that the UK variant continues to account for an increasing number of cases– more than 40% of the positive cases tested in the last 7 days can be traced back to this variant. The greater risk of infection posed by this new variant increases the risk of transmission of the disease in the community. Now, more than ever, there is an urgent need for vigilance in our individual response to the disease, which is spread through close proximity to others. This virus cannot spread when households do not mix together, when social gatherings do not occur and when people stay at home for all but essential reasons."

"The roll out of the COVID-19 vaccine programme is underway. The recent authorisation of the 2nd COVID-19 vaccine for Europe, Moderna, and the latest news on the Astra Zeneca approval process gives us cause for hope for rapid community vaccination against COVID-19 in coming months. Every time we wash our hands, wear a face covering and keep a two metre distance from others, we are protecting the most vulnerable in our society and our frontline healthcare workers and giving all of us much needed additional time for more vaccines to be administered."

County	Today’s Cases (to midnight 10/1/21)	14-Day incidence rate per 100,000 population (14 days to midnight 10/1/21)	New Cases during last 14 days (14 days to midnight 10/1/21)
Ireland	4,929	1378.7	65,650
Monaghan	160	2687.9	1,650
Louth	205	2319.9	2,990
Limerick	320	2032.3	3,961
Waterford	68	1667.3	1,937
Wexford	305	1641.0	2,457
Dublin	1,513	1568.0	21,127
Cavan	37	1495.2	1,139
Donegal	157	1493.8	2,378
Carlow	78	1473.7	839
Cork	695	1457.3	7,911
Clare	114	1427.4	1,696
Mayo	185	1303.4	1,701
Kilkenny	39	1194.2	1,185
Meath	124	1179.2	2,300
Sligo	22	1147.5	752
Kerry	66	1095.4	1,618
Kildare	154	1029.2	2,290
Offaly	33	933.8	728
Longford	7	917.5	375
Laois	63	911.5	772
Tipperary	127	860.5	1,373
Roscommon	72	821.1	530
Galway	225	815.7	2,105
Westmeath	49	732.2	650
Leitrim	5	708.4	227
Wicklow	106	673.3	959

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Slides from press conference

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Hospital statistics

Total number of cases	147,610
Total number hospitalised	7,310
Total number admitted to ICU	761
Total number of deaths	2,091
Total number of healthcare workers	13,566
Number clusters notified	10,988
Cases associated with clusters	46,340
Median age	38

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Gender of patients

Gender	Number of cases
Male	70,167
Female	77,210
Unknown	233
Total	147,610

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Age range affected

Age range	Number of cases
0 - 4	3,675
5 - 14	9,099
15 - 24	27,146
25 - 34	26,870
35 - 44	23,326
45 - 54	22,045
55 - 64	16,814
65 - 74	8,234
75 - 84	5,849
85+	4,513
Unknown	39

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How COVID-19 is spreading

Transmission classification	%
Community transmission	50.7
Close contact with confirmed case	39.3
Travel abroad	0.8
Unknown	9.3

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Hospitalised cases by age group

Age range	Number of cases
0 - 4	78
5 - 14	70
15 - 24	285
25 - 34	493
35 - 44	586
45 - 54	886
55 - 64	1,017
65 - 74	1,311
75 - 84	1,579
85+	1,003
Unknown	2

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Cases by county

County	Number of cases
Carlow	1,608
Cavan	3,544
Clare	3,271
Cork	14,680
Donegal	6,216
Dublin	51,492
Galway	5,014
Kerry	3,303
Kildare	6,748
Kilkenny	2,628
Laois	1,941
Leitrim	521
Limerick	7,306
Longford	1,111
Louth	5,586
Mayo	3,272
Meath	6,077
Monaghan	3,046
Offaly	1,976
Roscommon	1,499
Sligo	1,643
Tipperary	3,052
Waterford	3,173
Westmeath	2,257
Wexford	3,932
Wicklow	2,714