More than 10 per cent of all deaths in Ireland related to Covid-19 occurred in the last week of January, new data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) shows.
Some 317 people died due to the disease in the week ending January 29th, bringing the total number of deaths reported in Ireland since the start of the pandemic to 3,054.
18 people with the virus died in Waterford last week, while 59 people with Covid-19 in Waterford have passed away since the outbreak began.
52 of those deaths occurred in the four weeks between the 2nd and 29th of January (88%) and the median age of the people who died in Waterford was 83.
There were 109 deaths in Dublin in the week ending January 29th, while Cork (36) and Limerick (28) were the only other counties to record more than 20 deaths in the week.
Basing data on the actual date of death rather than the day of reporting, the CSO found that more than 250 people have died with the virus in each of the last three weeks.
Its latest analysis of Covid-19 cases and deaths from February 2020 to January 2021 found that Ireland’s overall mortality rate is 16 deaths per 1,000 confirmed cases.
This mortality rate was highest in April 2020, at 77 deaths per 1,000 confirmed cases. In January 2021, the mortality rate was 13 deaths per 1,000 cases.
64 per cent of all confirmed Covid-19 deaths to date have occurred among those aged 80 or older.
Underlying conditions
Since the start of the pandemic, there have been 2,504 deaths of people with underlying conditions from 28,326 confirmed cases with underlying conditions.
There were 2,320 deaths of people with underlying conditions in the over 65 age group, while the median age of those dying with underlying conditions is 83 years old.
Of the 222 deaths that have occurred in Ireland in the 25 to 64 age group, 183 had underlying conditions.
One notable condition, chronic heart disease, was present in 42 per cent of deaths.
The CSO says the numbers of cases with underlying conditions in recent weeks are likely to be underestimated, due to the third wave’s surge of infection meaning there were a large volume of deaths and cases where underlying cases were unknown.
