‘Do not give this virus the opportunities it is seeking’ as three more deaths and 606 new cases are confirmed 

There have been three further deaths due to Covid-19 and 606 new cases of the virus confirmed by the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) this evening.

Of the deaths reported today, two occurred in March and one in February. There has now been a total of 4,631 Covid-19 related deaths in Ireland, with 232,758 confirmed cases.

Of the cases notified today, 298 are men and 305 are women, with 75pc being under 45 years of age. The median age is 33 years old.

Nationally, 249 cases were in Dublin, 57 in Donegal, 39 in Kildare, 32 in Meath, 31 in Louth and the remaining 198 cases are spread across all other counties.

As of 8am today, 312 Covid-19 patients are hospitalised, of which 75 are in ICU. There have also been 24 additional hospitalisations in the past 24 hours.

As of March 22, 690,449 doses of Covid-19 vaccine have been administered in Ireland, with 503,796 people having received their first dose, and 186,653 people having received their second dose.

Dr. Ronan Glynn, Deputy Chief Medical Officer said that: “The vast majority of people are making a huge sacrifice and missing time with loved ones in order for us to stay on course with the public health guidance.”

“However, we know that in the week ending March 14, approximately one-in-ten people visited another household for social reasons, with most of these visits involving time spent indoors. While this clearly demonstrates that the vast majority of people are sticking with the public health guidance, it does represent a significant change versus January when just one in 20 people were visiting other homes for social reasons.”

"Please continue to stick with the public heath advice and avoid visiting other homes at this time – do not give this virus the opportunities it is seeking to spread.”

The HSE just received 9,600 doses of the Oxford AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine last week, the lowest delivery to date. This lined up with the temporary pause of the vaccine while it was being investigated by the European Medical Agency.

Health Minister Stephen Donnelly said it is expected that around 1 million vaccines will arrive here next month. Around 10,000 vaccinators have been trained to administer the vaccines, he said.

In addition, the HSE is also to stop accepting new applications for Covid-19 vaccinations from frontline healthcare workers from tomorrow. This is in a move to increase vaccinations among people who are at high risk due to an underlying illness.

To help increase testing, five new walk-in Covid-19 test centres opened in areas of high transmission today.

The walk-in test centres will be based in Tallaght Stadium, Irishtown Stadium, Blanchardstown Centre, the Primary Care Centre in Grangegorman and in Spollens car park in Tullamore, County Offaly.

Speaking about it today, Dr Miriam Owens, Director of Public Health at the HSE, said: “Today sees the opening of new walk-in test centres in areas of high transmission to enable increased ease of access to testing facilities for people who don’t have symptoms.”

"If you do experience symptoms, I would encourage you to contact your GP to arrange a test as soon as possible. Together we can break the chains of transmission of this infection, by washing our hands, keeping a safe distance and by avoiding all non-essential activity where you are mixing with others.”

Taoiseach Micheál Martin said this is part of a “strategic approach” to tackle the spread of the virus.

“Rapid testing may come in to play as a strategic approach in areas of high incidence in localised areas,” he said.

“That’s something that the Minister for Health is working on with Nphet in terms of adding a more localised response to areas of high outbreak in terms of the application of antigen testing.”

The Taoiseach also said a comprehensive statement will be made next week on the level of Covid-19 restrictions that will apply for the period ahead. The Government is set to review current lockdown restrictions on April 5, with current indications suggesting there may be changes to the 5km exercise rule.

Irish Independent