A FURTHER 650 cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed in Ireland, the NPHET (National Public Health Emergency Team) has said this evening.

In a statement, it said that 57 more people who were confirmed to have Covid-19 have died.

34 of these deaths occurred in February, 21 in January, one in December and one in November.

The age range of today’s reported deaths are between 52 and 99.

This now brings the death toll from Covid-19 to 4,036, with a total of 211,751 cases confirmed since the pandemic began.

Validation of HSPC data has resulted in the identification of one death, and of 12 cases.

Of the cases notified today:

• 325 are male/ 323 are female
• 65% are under 45 years of age
• The median age is 37 years old
• 192 in Dublin, 53 in Galway, 50 in Meath, 46 in Kildare, 46 in Cork and the remaining 263 cases are spread across 19 other counties.

“Although we have made great progress, the situation remains precarious,” said Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr Ronan Glynn.

“Almost 90% of cases in Ireland are the B117 variant. The increased transmissibility of this variant is apparent in the current profile of the disease in households, with one in three household contacts of a confirmed case testing positive for COVID-19.

“This underlines the need for people to exercise caution in households and other settings. In particular, people should isolate immediately on experiencing any symptoms and contact their GP.”

As of 8am today, there are 831 patients in hospital being treated for Covid-19. 154 of these patients are in ICU. 

There have also been 49 additional hospitalizations in the last 24 hours.

Currently, the five-day moving average for the entire country stands at 816, while the 14-day incidence rate per 100,000 population is now 261.7.