COVID-19: 617 new cases confirmed - 12 more in Waterford

617 new cases of COVID-19 have been reported this evening, and 10 additional deaths.

12 of today's confirmed cases are in Waterford, bringing the county's 14-day incidence rate to 65 cases per 100,000 people.

The national average is now 118.

Waterford's five-day moving average is 4 cases.

This evening's full statement reads as follows: 

The Health Protection Surveillance Centre has today been notified of 10 additional deaths related to COVID-19.

7 deaths occurred in April, 1 in March, 1 in February and 1 in January.

The median age of those who died was 82 years and the age range was 62 - 104 years.

There has been a total of 4,866 COVID-19 related deaths in Ireland.

As of midnight, Wednesday 21st April, the HPSC has been notified of 617 confirmed cases of COVID-19.

There has now been a total of 245,310* confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ireland.

Of the cases notified today:

• 299 are men / 318 are women
• 70% are under 45 years of age
• The median age is 33 years old
• 236 in Dublin, 84 in Donegal, 37 in Kildare, 34 in Tipperary, 30 in Offaly and the remaining 196 cases are spread across 20 other counties**

As of 8am today, 176 COVID-19 patients are hospitalised, of which 48 are in ICU. 19 additional hospitalisations in the past 24 hours.

As of April 20^th, 2021, 1,240,965 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in Ireland:

• 878,823 people have received their first dose
• 362,142 people have received their second dose

Dr. Tony Holohan, Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health said; “We are in a strong position in that transmission levels have reduced substantially and the roll-out of vaccination is protecting more and more of those at risk from the severe effects of COVID-19.

“If we can maintain our current position there is hope that we can look forward to a real easing of measures, but it is as important as ever that we don’t put that progress at risk by letting our collective guard down too much, or too early.”

Professor Philip Nolan, Chair of the NPHET Irish Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group said; “The R number is estimated as being very close to 1.0. We continue to keep close contacts at 2.6 – a phenomenal testament to the public in keeping social transmission low. All indicators of the disease are stable or declining slowly, though we may see an increase in cases over the coming days. Maintaining this over the coming weeks is key to managing community transmission, and a move towards easing of measures.”

Professor Martin Cormican, Clinical Lead for Antimicrobial Resistance and Infection Control, HSE & Professor of Bacteriology at NUI Galway said; “The benefits of vaccination in Nursing Homes and long-term residential care facilities are now very clear with a dramatic drop in the number of residents and staff developing severe disease.

“New visitation guidance agreed by NPHET today represents another step to support residents in long term residential care facilities in maintaining meaningful relationships with their family and friends.  From the 4^th May, nursing home residents - in which most residents are fully vaccinated - can expect 4 visits with 2 people per week.”

The COVID-19 Dashboard provides up-to-date information on the key indicators of COVID-19 in the community including daily data on Ireland’s COVID-19 Vaccination Programme.

*Validation of data at the HPSC has resulted in the denotification of 2 confirmed cases. The figure of 245,310 confirmed cases reflects this.

**County data should be considered provisional as the national Computerised Infectious Disease Reporting System (CIDR) is a dynamic system and case details are continually being validated and updated.

• 7-day incidence 61.2
• 5-day moving average 415

Today’s cases, 5-day moving average of new cases, 14-day incidence rate per 100,000 population and new cases in last 14 days (as of midnight 21^st April 2021) (incidence rate based on Census 2016 county population)

~The 5-day moving average of the number of new cases provides an appropriate indicator of current daily case numbers within a county. It takes account of any validation of cases for previous days and smooths out daily/weekend fluctuations in case numbers.