HEALTH OFFICIALS HAVE confirmed a further 5,325 cases of Covid-19 in Ireland.

There have been 17 additional deaths of patients diagnosed with the disease.

This brings the death toll to 2,282, with a total of 113,322 confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the country since the start of the pandemic.

Of the cases notified today:

• 2,550 are men / 2,769 are women
• 63% are under 45 years of age
• The median age is 36 years old
• 1,931 in Dublin, 767 in Cork, 323 in Kildare, 322 in Limerick, 238 in Donegal and the remaining 1,744 cases are spread across all other counties.  

As of 2pm today, 840 Covid-19 patients are in hospital, of which 76 are in ICU. There have been 102 additional hospitalisations in the past 24 hours.

Chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan said we are now experiencing a considerable surge in cases and hospitalisations.

We are now experiencing a considerable surge in cases and hospitalisations. We can turn this around quickly if we stick to the measures we know worked last spring. https://t.co/dfsxl5beLm

— Dr Tony Holohan (@CMOIreland) January 5, 2021

“We can turn this around quickly if we stick to the measures we know worked last spring. We have seen some early progress in that the average number of contacts per case has been dropping in recent days – but we need to continue this effort to limit as much as we can our contact with other people in the days and weeks ahead.

“If we all stay home and keep to the public health advice, we can bring Covid-19 back under control – which ultimately will protect our essential services such as Health and Education and most importantly save lives.”