PUBLIC HEALTH OFFICIALS have confirmed that no new deaths from Covid-19 have been recorded in Ireland today, while 301 further cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed.

The total number of positive case that have been recorded in Ireland now stands at 74,246, and the number of deaths has remained at 2,099.

Of the cases notified today:

• 133 are men / 168 are women
• 64% are under 45 years of age
• The median age is 32 years old
• 119 in Dublin, 32 in Donegal, 16 in Cork,13 in Kildare, 13 in Kilkenny and the remaining 108 cases are spread across 18 other counties. 

231 Covid-19 patients, of whom 28 are in ICU, are hospitalised as of 2pm today, with eight additional hospitalisations made in the last 24 hours.

The national 14-day incidence rate is currently 80.7 cases per 100,000 people.

In Donegal, the 14-day incidence rate is 224.9 per 100,000, followed by 171.3 per 100,000 in Kilkenny and 159.1 per 100.000 in Louth.

Three counties – Westmeath, Sligo, and Laois – recorded no new cases today.

Validation of data at the Health Protection Surveillance Centre has resulted in three cases that were previously confirmed being identified, which is reflected in the current total figure of 74,246.

Yesterday, thirteen deaths and 456 new cases of Covid-19 were confirmed in Ireland.

Minister for Higher Education Simon Harris has called for there to be no “pseudoscience or nonsense or scaremongering” in messaging from TDs on a Covid-19 vaccine.

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Speaking on This Week in Politics on RTÉ One earlier today, Harris said that by supporting scientists and doctors during the rollout of a vaccine, “so many of the things that we’ve missed this year, we’ll be able to begin to imagine and perhaps even experience next year”.

“We have to listen to our doctors, the same people who have steered us through this pandemic and I think have done a very good job on keeping us safe, giving us good, honest advice and communications, they’ll be the same people making the key decisions on who will get the vaccine first, how will the vaccine be rolled out, and I think the job for us as politicians is to roll in behind them,” Harris said. 

This afternoon, Northern Ireland recorded a further eleven deaths and 419 cases of Covid-19.

The vaccination programme in Northern Ireland will start to be rolled out over the coming week.