There have been no further Coronavirus-related deaths in Ireland and 727 new cases.
Only one of the new cases are in Laois, meaning the county’s 14-day incidence rate is now 173.6.
The national average is 122.4 and the Laois figure is now seventh highest in the country, behind only Donegal, Louth, Carlow, Kilkenny, Wexford and Cavan.
That Laois figure was 94.5 seven days ago and 55.5 14 days ago.
Of the cases notified today:
- 359 are men / 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. 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 17th December to 616 on 21st 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.”
New Cases in Laois
- December 20 – 1
- December 19 – 19
- December 18 – 11
- December 17 – 10
- December 16 – 23
- December 15 – 13
- December 14 – 5
- December 13 – 8
- December 12 – 22
- December 11 – 9
- December 10 – 18
- December 9 – 2
- December 8 – 3
- December 7 – 2
14-day case rate in Laois per 100,000 population
- December 20 – 173.6
- December 19 – 174.7
- December 18 – 152.3
- December 17 – 149.9
- December 16 – 141.7
- December 15 – 113.3
- December 14 – 100.4
- December 13 – 99.2
- December 12 – 94.5
- December 11 – 73.2
- December 10 – 66.1
- December 9 – 49.6
- December 8 – 54.3
- December 7 – 56.7
- December 6 – 55.7
- December 5 – 55.5
New cases in Laois during past 14 days
- December 20 – 147
- December 19 – 148
- December 18 – 129
- December 17 – 127
- December 16 – 120
- December 15 – 96
- December 14 – 85
- December 13 – 84
- December 12 – 80
- December 11 – 62
- December 10 – 56
- December 9 – 42
- December 8 – 46
- December 7 – 48
- December 6 – 47
- December 5 – 47
British travel ban ‘unlikely’ to end before Christmas
The current ban on travel from Britain to Ireland is “unlikely” to be lifted before Christmas, the Minister for Transport has said.
Eamon Ryan said that unfortunately Irish people based in Britain are not going to be able to come home for Christmas.
He said they have to follow the advice being given there at the moment, and that the Irish Government is saying “there won’t be flights, there won’t be passenger ferry travel”.
