Statement from the National Public Health Emergency Team - Monday 21 December
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From: Department of Health
- Published on: 21 December 2020
- Last updated on: 22 December 2020
There have been no new deaths reported to the Health Protection Surveillance Centre today.
There has been a total of 2,158 COVID-19 related deaths in Ireland.
As of midnight Sunday 20 December, the HPSC has been notified of 727 confirmed cases of COVID-19. There has now been a total of 80,267* confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ireland.
(*Validation of data at the HPSC has resulted in the denotification of 2 confirmed cases. The figure of 80,267 confirmed cases reflects this.)
Of the cases notified today:
- 359 are men and 366 are women
- 62% are under 45 years of age
- the median age is 36 years old
- 311 in Dublin, 51 in Kilkenny, 48 in Wexford, 44 in Donegal, 44 in Cork and the remaining 229 cases are spread across 19 other counties
As of 2pm today, 241 COVID-19 patients are hospitalised, of which 29 are in ICU. There have been 18 additional hospitalisations in the past 24 hours.
Dr. Tony Holohan, Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health, said:
"Our current disease trends are gravely concerning. The situation has deteriorated rapidly in recent days. A total of 3,837 cases have been notified in the past 7 days. The five day rolling average has increased from 339 on 17 December to 616 on 21 December, an 82% increase. It is now as important as it was back in March to limit your contacts and protect your loved ones.”
Dr Lorraine Nolan, Chief Executive, Health Products Regulatory Authority, said:
"Today we welcome a highly significant announcement from the European Medicines Agency in their recommendation to approve a first vaccine for COVID-19 in Europe. It is a key development in our continued efforts to tackling this pandemic. This will become one additional defence in our suite of public health actions to protect us from COVID-19.”
Professor Philip Nolan, Chair of the NPHET Irish Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group, said:
"The virus is transmitting very rapidly, faster than we have seen at any point since March. The case numbers are growing at least 5-7% per day and, of particular concern, across all age groups.”
Dr. Cillian De Gascun, Medical Virologist and Director of the National Virus Reference Laboratory, said:
"To date, the novel SARS-CoV-2 UK variant has not been detected in Ireland. However, as we know the variant has been circulating in the UK since September, therefore we cannot exclude the possibility that the variant is already in Ireland. We are prioritising the sequencing of cases with confirmed or suspected links to the UK."
The COVID-19 Dashboard provides up-to-date information on the key indicators of COVID-19 in the community.
ENDS
Today’s cases, 14-day incidence rate per 100,000 population and new cases in last 14 days (as of midnight 20 December 2020) (incidence rate based on Census 2016 county population)
| County | Today’s Cases (to midnight 20/12/20) | 14-Day incidence rate per 100,000 population (14 days to midnight 20/12/20) | New Cases during last 14 days (14 days to midnight 20/12/20) |
| Ireland | 727 | 122.4 | 5,827 |
| Donegal | 44 | 273.9 | 436 |
| Louth | 21 | 240.5 | 310 |
| Kilkenny | 51 | 266.7 | 225 |
| Wexford | 48 | 199.7 | 299 |
| Carlow | <5 | 191.5 | 109 |
| Cavan | 6 | 177.2 | 135 |
| Laois | <5 | 173.6 | 147 |
| Limerick | 35 | 164.7 | 321 |
| Monaghan | 15 | 148.2 | 91 |
| Dublin | 311 | 142.6 | 1,921 |
| Longford | 0 | 141.9 | 58 |
| Kerry | 24 | 124.6 | 184 |
| Meath | 24 | 118.9 | 232 |
| Mayo | <5 | 111.1 | 145 |
| Waterford | 16 | 107.6 | 125 |
| Sligo | 8 | 103.8 | 68 |
| Kildare | 21 | 89.4 | 199 |
| Wicklow | 11 | 72.3 | 103 |
| Tipperary | 5 | 65.8 | 105 |
| Cork | 44 | 57.8 | 314 |
| Offaly | 0 | 57.7 | 45 |
| Galway | 15 | 51.5 | 133 |
| Roscommon | 6 | 51.1 | 33 |
| Westmeath | 5 | 47.3 | 42 |
| Clare | 9 | 32 | 38 |
| Leitrim | <5 | 28.1 | 9 |
Note:
The 7 day incidence rate is 122.4.
The 5 day moving average is 616.
Hospital statistics
| Total number of cases | 79,540 |
| Total number hospitalised | 5,615 |
| Total number admitted to ICU | 654 |
| Total number of deaths | 1,898 |
| Total number of healthcare workers | 12,862 |
| Number clusters notified | 10,397 |
| Cases associated with clusters | 43,501 |
| Median age | 39 |
- All statistics measured at midnight on Saturday 19 December.
Gender of patients
| Gender | Number of cases |
| Male | 37,609 |
| Female | 41,884 |
| Unknown | 47 |
| Total | 79,540 |
- All statistics measured at midnight on Saturday 19 December.
Age range affected
| Age range | Number of cases |
| 0 - 4 | 2,157 |
| 5 - 14 | 5,410 |
| 15 - 24 | 13,782 |
| 25 - 34 | 13,373 |
| 35 - 44 | 12,508 |
| 45 - 54 | 11,968 |
| 55 - 64 | 8,483 |
| 65 - 74 | 4,519 |
| 75 - 84 | 3,931 |
| 85+ | 3,380 |
| Unknown | 29 |
- All statistics measured at midnight on Saturday 19 December.
How COVID-19 is spreading
| Transmission classification | % |
| Community transmission | 30 |
| Close contact with confirmed case | 67.1 |
| Travel abroad | 1.4 |
| Unknown | 1.5 |
- All statistics measured at midnight on Saturday 19 December.
Note:
When a person tests positive for COVID-19 but hasn't been abroad or had a known contact with another confirmed case in Ireland, that's known as community transmission.
In the event that a person who tests positive for COVID-19 can be linked to another confirmed case in Ireland, that's known as close contact.
Hospitalised cases by age group
| Age range | Number of cases |
| 0 - 4 | 58 |
| 5 - 14 | 56 |
| 15 - 24 | 188 |
| 25 - 34 | 350 |
| 35 - 44 | 440 |
| 45 - 54 | 699 |
| 55 - 64 | 803 |
| 65 - 74 | 1,014 |
| 75 - 84 | 1,249 |
| 85+ | 756 |
| Unknown | 2 |
- All statistics measured at midnight on Saturday 19 December.
Cases by county
| County | Number of cases | Change since the day before |
| Carlow | 782 | +11 |
| Cavan | 2,345 | +14 |
| Clare | 1,546 | +4 |
| Cork | 6,730 | +44 |
| Donegal | 3,543 | +50 |
| Dublin | 29,343 | +284 |
| Galway | 2,859 | +16 |
| Kerry | 1,508 | +29 |
| Kildare | 4,333 | +28 |
| Kilkenny | 1,297 | +8 |
| Laois | 1,155 | +19 |
| Leitrim | 277 | +1 |
| Limerick | 3,195 | +66 |
| Longford | 727 | +4 |
| Louth | 2,533 | +36 |
| Mayo | 1,643 | +9 |
| Meath | 3,653 | +31 |
| Monaghan | 1,372 | +8 |
| Offaly | 1,242 | No change |
| Roscommon | 989 | +1 |
| Sligo | 814 | +14 |
| Tipperary | 1,682 | +12 |
| Waterford | 1,184 | +17 |
| Westmeath | 1,587 | +8 |
| Wexford | 1,469 | +37 |
| Wicklow | 1,732 | +10 |
- All statistics measured at midnight on Saturday 19 December.
Slides from press conference
