HEALTH OFFICIALS HAVE confirmed an additional 269 new cases of Covid-19 in Ireland today.

In a statement, the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) also announced one death of a person confirmed to have Covid-19.

This now brings the death toll from Covid-19 in Ireland to 4,836, with a total of 243,508 cases being confirmed since the pandemic began. Validation of HSPC data has removed one confirmed case from the total.

Of the cases notified today:

• 133 are men / 131 are women
• 70% are under 45 years of age
• The median age is 31 years old

As of 8am this morning, 181 patients are hospitalised with Covid-19, of which 47 are in ICU.

There have been six additional hospitalisations in the last 24 hours.

As of Friday 16 April, there have been 1,188,354 doses of Covid-19 vaccines administered in Ireland.

Of these:

• 838,644 people have received their first dose
• 349,710 people have received their second dose

The current five-day moving average is now 369.

Dr Ronan Glynn, Acting Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health said that the decline in cases is not due to vaccination, but due to the efforts of the Irish public.

“We have already seen the fantastic impact of vaccination amongst our healthcare workers and in our nursing homes. However, the declining incidence across all age groups in recent weeks cannot be attributed to vaccination but rather to the enormous efforts of people across society to keep themselves and their families safe,” said Dr Glynn

“If we can keep incidence relatively low over the coming weeks, vaccination will increasingly play a role in suppressing this virus. This will make it easier for all of us to balance the risks associated with COVID-19 while gradually easing public health measures.”

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