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Ireland is grappling with a third wave of the coronavirus pandemic, the country’s public health experts have warned.
The chairman of the National Public Health Emergency Team’s Irish Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group said the cases were rising rapidly and it was almost certainly due to the increase in people socialising.
Professor Philip Nolan said: “We’re clearly now in a third wave of this pandemic, with very rapidly rising case numbers.”
Statement from the National Public Health Emergency Team
There have been no new deaths reported to the Health Protection Surveillance Centre @hpscireland today.
There has been a total of 2,158 #COVID19 related deaths in Ireland. Department of Health (@roinnslainte) December 21, 2020
727 New COVID-19 Cases Confirmed Nationally; 9 In Clare
21st December 2020
There has been a total of 2,158 COVID-19 related deaths in Ireland.
As of midnight Sunday 20th December, the HPSC has been notified of 727 confirmed cases of COVID-19. There is now a total of 80,267 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ireland.
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359 are men / 366 are women
62% are under 45 years of age
The median age is 36 years old
311 in Dublin, 51 in Kilkenny, 48 in Wexford, 44 in Donegal, 44 in Cork and the remaining 229 cases are spread across 19 other counties.
Of today’s cases, 9 are in Clare, bringing the 14-day incidence rate of the virus here to 32 per 100,000 population, the second lowest in the country.
Third wave clearly underway : No deaths and 727 new Covid-19 cases in Ireland
Professor Philip Nolan, Chair of the Nphet Irish Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group, said: The virus is transmitting very rapidly, faster than we have seen at any point since March.
Picture: Leah Farrell / RollingNews.ie
Michelle McGlynn
The Chief Medical Officer has said he is gravely concerned as the Covid-19 situation in Ireland has rapidly deteriorated in recent days.
While the virus has been transmitting faster than at any point since March , health officials have said there has not been a case of the new variant of Covid-19 detected in Ireland.
As of 2pm on Monday, 241 Covid-19 patients are hospitalised, of which 29 are in ICU.
There have been 18 additional hospitalisations in the past 24 hours.
Dr. Tony Holohan, Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health, said: “Our current disease trends are gravely concerning. The situation has deteriorated rapidly in recent days. A total of 3,837 cases have been notified in the past 7 days. The five day rolling average has increased from 339 on 17th December to 616 on 21st December, an 82% increase. It is now as important as it was back in March to limit your contacts and protect your loved ones.”
Dr Lorraine Nolan, Chief Executive, Health Products Regulatory Authority, said: “Today we welcome a highly significant announcement from the European Medicines Agency in their recommendation to approve a first vaccine for Covid-19 in Europe.