Three more COVID related deaths and 1,066 cases, including 22 in Kerry

Three more people with COVID-19 have died.

There has been a total of 1,871 COVID-19 related deaths in the Republic.

As of midnight Wednesday, 1,066 more cases of virus have been confirmed, including 22 in Kerry.

There is now a total of 54,476 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ireland, 12 cases has been denotified.

The county figure for Kerry, which is valid until midnight on Tuesday, has increased by 28 to 855.

Of the cases notified today;

• 536 are men / 528 are women
• 67% are under 45 years of age
• The median age is 32 years old
• 244 in Dublin, 104 in Galway, 98 in Cork, 92 in Meath and the remaining 528 cases are spread across all remaining counties.

As of 2pm today 313 COVID-19 patients are hospitalised, of which 37 are in ICU. 20 additional hospitalisations in the past 24 hours.

Dr. Tony Holohan, Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health said; “We are now in Level 5 because the disease is at very serious levels in our country and posing a significant risk to public health.

“We all need to stay at home, except for essential work and exceptional circumstances. If you are a confirmed case self isolate at home, if you are a close contact of a confirmed case restrict your movements at home, if you are experiencing symptoms or believe you are a close contact - restrict your movements and contact your GP.”

Dr. Heather Burns, Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health said; “The 14-day incidence was at 3 per 100,000 at the end of June, today it is 302 per 100,000 population. The risk of you being exposed to COVID-19 is now 100 times greater than it was 4 months ago. Please limit your risk by staying at home and following public health advice.”

Professor Philip Nolan, Chair of the NPHET Irish Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group, said “The reproduction number is 1.3 -1.4 nationally. Our collective goal now is to suppress transmission of the virus and bring our case numbers to manageable levels. If we work hard together to get the reproduction number to 0.5, we should succeed in reducing cases to below 100 a day in six weeks time.”

Dr Colm Henry, Chief Clinical Officer, HSE, said; “Based on our experience, widespread community transmission results in spread to vulnerable groups in congregated settings. The single most effective measure to protect vulnerable groups, including nursing homes, is to reduce community transmission significantly. Every one of us has a role to play to achieve this.”

Today’s cases, 14-day incidence rate per 100,000 population and new cases in last 14 days (as of midnight 21 October 2020) (incidence rate based on Census 2016 county population)