Tomas Doherty
Tullamore had the worst coronavirus infection rate in Ireland over the past two weeks, new figures show.
The Co Offaly town recorded 823 cases per 100,000 during March 16th to 29th, five times the national average of 164. This has increased from last week when the area had a rate of 755.
A walk-in Covid testing centre was set up in the area last week to help identify asymptomatic cases.
The latest Covid-19 data from local electoral areas in the Republic and postcode areas in the North show how the disease is spreading in different communities.
The next worst-affected area was Balbriggan in Co Dublin, with an infection rate of 547. A walk-in testing centre is now open in the town.
Letterkenny and Buncrana in Co Donegal both recorded 416 cases per 100,000.
In Northern Ireland, the postcode covering Strabane in Co Tyrone saw the highest rate of new infections – 73 people tested positive for the disease over the two-week period from March 15th to 28th.
That amounted to 272 cases per 100,000 people in the BT82 postcode.
Many areas in counties Cork, Kerry and Mayo recorded fewer than five cases per 100,000 – including Skibbereen, Kanturk, Kenmare, Castleisland, Belmullet and Westport.
In the North, the BT3, BT68 and BT93 postcodes recorded no cases during the 14-day period.
Vaccine supply
The update comes after the Republic's plan to ramp up its vaccine rollout in April was dealt a blow, with the Tánaiste confirming there will be a drop in the expected number of vaccines delivered this month.
Leo Varadkar said that fewer than a million doses of the vaccine will be delivered in April.
Last week, Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly told the Dáil that 1.1 million doses were scheduled to be delivered over the next four weeks.
“I would like to get about a million a month through April, May and June, but it will be less than a million in April, more than a million in May and June,” Mr Varadkar said on Thursday.
Some 112,000 vaccines arrived in Ireland on Wednesday, which means the Government reached its projection of receiving 1.187 million vaccines in the first quarter of the year.
