By James Cox
A further 15 Covid-19 related deaths and 310 additional confirmed cases have been confirmed in the Republic of Ireland.
15 of today's cases are in Waterford bringing the total number of cases in the county over the past four days to 42.
Of the deaths reported today, 10 died in December.
There has been a total of 2,117 Covid-19 related deaths in Ireland along with 75,203 confirmed cases.
Of the cases notified today:
- 162 are men/148 are women.
- 61 per cent are under 45 years of age.
- The median age is 39 years old.
- 80 are in Dublin, 27 in Donegal, 25 in Louth, 15 in Kilkenny, 15 in Tipperary, 15 in Meath and the remaining 118 cases are spread across 16 other counties.
As of 2pm today, 202 Covid-19 patients are in hospital, of which 36 are in ICU. 15 additional Covid-19 cases have been reported in hospitals in the last 24 hours.
Christmas
Chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan said: “Tomorrow marks 14 days to Christmas Day. To ensure the safest possible interaction with your family over Christmas, consider restricting your movements now.
“Risk assess the environments you plan to be in over the next two weeks; are they compliant with public health measures? Can you keep a two-metre distance? Are people wearing face coverings? Now is the time to make decisions about what interactions are necessary and pose the lowest risk to you, your family and friends over Christmas.”
Deputy chief medical officer Dr Ronan Glynn said: “It is important that the encouraging plans for vaccine rollout in 2021 does not distract from the actions we need to take as we face into December 2020. A vaccine will have no positive impact on the trajectory of this disease over the coming weeks and does not give immunity to people over the Christmas period.
“We must not allow Covid-19 to spread through our communities now, after all the efforts we have made throughout 2020 and how close we are to beginning to vaccinate.”
Reproduction number
Professor Philip Nolan, Chair of the Nphet Irish Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group, said: “The reproduction number is now estimated to be close to 1.0. This is a testament to the very large number of people who continue to limit their contacts and follow public health advice.
“Please be mindful that this remains a very dangerous virus, especially for vulnerable and older persons. We have the know-how and the determination to keep suppressing this disease, to protect our family and friends over Christmas.”
Professor Karina Butler, chair of the National Immunisation Advisory Committee, said: “As we await final analysis of vaccines by the European Medicines Agency, the FDA analysis of the data around Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine has affirmed its efficacy. These are encouraging signs however it is important to ensure full EMA approval before vaccine roll out in Ireland.”
Meanwhile, the Minister for Health has said the Oireachtas Transport Committee is wrong to call for a relaxation on non-essential air travel around Christmas.
Travel advice
Stephen Donnelly said the Government and public health experts remained concerned about the need to “keep our shape and keep our discipline” and limit social interaction over the holiday period.
The minister said the Nphet had advised him that there would be “serious exponential growth” in infection rates if the R number (reproductive rate) for Covid-19 increased above 1.2.
“It is something that nobody wants because it puts the hospitals at risk. It puts lives at risk, it puts the nursing homes at risk,” he said.
He pointed out that most countries in Europe were now branded red for travel purposes which meant anyone coming back for the holidays would have to quarantine for two weeks unless they got a negative PCR test after being back five days.
“What I’m saying, what the Government is saying and I think much more importantly what the public health experts are saying is if you need to come home for Christmas, of course come home,” he said.
