A FURTHER 582 new cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed in Ireland, the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) has said this evening.

In a statement, it said that no new deaths had been reported. There are 83 patients in intensive care units.

The total number of confirmed cases is now 228,796. There have now been a total of 4,566 Covid-19 related deaths in Ireland.

Of the cases notified today:

• 290 are men / 291 are women
• 74% are under 45 years of age
• The median age is 32 years old
• 262 in Dublin, 41 in Galway, 34 in Meath, 24 in Kildare, 23 in Waterford and the remaining 198 cases are spread across 20 other counties.

As of 8am today, 345 Covid-19 patients are hospitalised, of which 83 are in ICU. There has been 24 additional hospitalisations in the past 24 hours.

As of 15 March, 620,580 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in Ireland:

• 455,182 people have received their first dose
• 165,398 people have received their second dose

Speaking at a NPHET briefing this evening, the chair of the Irish Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group Professor Philip Nolan said case counts have plateaued. 

Professor Nolan said there is no specific pattern across age groups under 65, all age groups are making their own contribution to the incidence of disease. 

“To my mind, and from evidence, you can quite clearly trace that relatively constant case count to an increase in mobility, congregation and social mixing,” he said.

AstraZeneca vaccine

After the European Medicines Agency (EMA) said that the AstraZeneca vaccine is safe and effective, Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr Ronan Glynn said Ireland expects to announce its decision on whether to resume the roll-out of the vaccine tomorrow.

Ireland temporarily suspended the AstraZeneca vaccine on Sunday “out of an abundance of caution” after reports of blood clotting in other European countries.

The European Union’s drug regulator said today that the jab is a safe and effective vaccine and that the benefits of vaccination outweigh the risks.