Nphet ‘concerned’ as daily Covid cases remain static with 582 more cases confirmed and no further deaths

Professor Philip Nolan said it is concerning that daily Covid cases are ‘static’ as 582 more cases have been confirmed today and no further deaths.

Today’s figures bring the total number of coronavirus-related deaths in the state to 4,566 and the total number of cases to 228,796.

Speaking at a Nphet briefing this evening, Prof Nolan said there is some positive news in that ICU numbers continue to decrease, but daily admissions to hospitals are static.

“Both our five and seven day average case count have been static at around 500 for a week to 10 days now,” he said.

“The 14 day incidence is also static at around 150 cases per 100,000 people.

“The numbers in hospital and intensive care continue to decline and week on week the number of deaths that we are confirming here by day is also decreasing- and all of that is welcome news.

“But, what is of concern is the number of admissions to hospital by day, which is an important indicator, also has been static at between 20 and 25 since the beginning of March.”

Of the cases notified today 290 are men and 291 are women. The median age is 32 years old and 74pc are under 45 years of age.

There are 156 cases in Dublin, 23 in Meath, 19 in Donegal, 15 in Louth, 14 in Kildare 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 were 24 additional hospitalisations in the past 24 hours.

As of March 15, 620,580 doses of Covid-19 vaccine have been administered in Ireland. 455,182 people have received their first dose and 165,398 people have received their second dose.

This comes as the European Medicines Agency (EMA) today announced that it has found the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine to be “safe” for use following an investigation into cases of blood clots among people who received the jab.

It paves the way for the resumption of its rollout here but the finding will have to be assessed by vaccination experts and the Department of Health first.

The watchdog investigated whether it was linked to a increased risk of unusual blood clots.

However, the patient information leaflet is to be revised to create more awareness the potential risk.

The EMA's chief Emma Cooke said after days of indepth analysis they cannot rule out a link between these cases and the vaccine.

Because of this they will raise awareness around blood clotting events in the information leaflet accompanying the vaccine.

Online Editors