The Republic of Ireland s Covid death toll now stands at 2,299.
The number of people being treated for the virus in intensive care is now at 88, a number which has quadrupled since Christmas Eve.
2,263 of Wednesday s cases are in Dublin, while 1,373 are in Cork, 496 are in Louth, 345 are in Limerick, and 340 are in Meath. The remainder are spread across all other counties.
Chief Medical Officer Tony Holohan once again urged people to stay at home, saying: The country is in a serious phase of this surge of Covid-19. There is evidence of an increasing presence of the UK variant in Ireland. All counties have an upward trajectory of the disease. There is concerning escalation of admissions to hospital and ICU.
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The Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine has been approved for use within the United Kingdom and the first doses will be administered in Northern Ireland from January 4.
“The approval by the Medicines & Healthcare products Regulatory Agency paves the way for a significant acceleration of Northern Ireland’s vaccination programme,” Northern Ireland’s Department of Health said in a statement on December 30, the day the Oxford / AstraZeneca vaccine was approved in the UK.
“But the Minister has also warned that the coming weeks will be among the most challenging yet in the pandemic, with our health service under immense pressure.
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BOXED-IN DAY
Millions of Brits wake up to harsher Tier 4 Covid restrictions TODAY in bid to stop mutant strain spreading
Updated: 26 Dec 2020, 17:01
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MILLIONS more people are waking up to harsher coronavirus restrictions as new tier changes come into force in England today.
Those in the strict Tier 4 in England will increase by six million to 24 million people - 43 per cent of the population - in a bid to stop the spread of the mutant Covid.
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Matt Hancock plunged a whole swathe of areas into Tier 4 - and moved more places up to Tier 3 tooCredit: AP:Associated Press
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Two Londoners celebrated Christmas lunch outside on Clapham Common yesterday as Brits across the country had a very different festive experienceCredit: Rex Features
Coronavirus vaccine rollout
Slaoui said the US was still aiming to immunize 100 million people by the end of the first quarter of 2021, and another 100 million by halfway through next year, as Pfizer agreed to give 100 million more doses to the US next year after March. That would be just under two-thirds of all Americans.
The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is given over two doses weeks apart, as are the Moderna vaccines.
Rest of Americas
Brazilian researchers said the SinoVac vaccine developed by China s Sinovac Biotech was more than 50% effective, but would not release the full results of their research.
Brazil was the first country to complete a late-stage trial of the vaccine, but full results from the trial have now been delayed three times. The ongoing delays are likely to fan growing skepticism toward the vaccine in the country.
Northern Ireland, Israel report new coronavirus strain, Moderna says its vaccine will work against mutant: Top developments
The new coronavirus strain detected in the UK has found its way to Northern Ireland and also Israel as the countries reported cases of the mutant virus strain.
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UPDATED: December 24, 2020 09:48 IST
The new coronavirus strain detected in UK has found its way to Northern Ireland and also Israel. (Reuters)
The new coronavirus strain detected in the UK has found its way to Northern Ireland and also Israel as the countries reported cases of the mutant virus strain.
Meanwhile, another coronavirus strain has emerged from South Africa, which is also showing signs of spreading rapidly just like the UK variant. Coronavirus cases caused by this new virus strain have been detected in the UK in cases linked to South Africa.