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Press release

Statement from the National Public Health Emergency Team - Friday 8 January

The Health Protection Surveillance Centre has today been notified of 20 additional deaths related to COVID-19.

There has been a total of 2,327 COVID-19 related deaths in Ireland.

As of midnight Thursday 7 January, the HPSC has been notified of 8,248 confirmed cases of COVID-19. There has now been a total of 135,884* confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ireland.

(*Validation of data at the HPSC has resulted in the denotification of 21 confirmed cases. The figure of 135,884 confirmed cases reflects this.)

Of the cases notified today:

  • 3,834 are men and 4,375 are women
  • 61% are under 45 years of age
  • the median age is 38 years old
  • 3,013 in Dublin, 1,374 in Cork, 538 in Limerick, 314 in Kildare, 310 in Donegal and the remaining 2,699 cases are spread across all other counties

As of 2pm today, 1,180 COVID-19 patients are hospitalised, of which 109 are in ICU. There have been 116 additional hospitalisations in the past 24 hours.

Dr. Tony Holohan, Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health, said:

"Three cases of a new variant of COVID-19 recently identified in South Africa have been confirmed in Ireland today by whole genome sequencing. All of the cases identified are directly associated with recent travel from South Africa.

"Anyone who has travelled from South Africa recently is advised to self-isolate for 14 days and identify themselves through a GP for testing as soon as possible.

"We are particularly advising healthcare workers travelling from South Africa, that it is essential that they self-isolate for 14 days before entering/re-entering the workplace.

"While this variant has not yet been identified in many European countries we believe the identification here reflects the extent of genome sequencing surveillance in Ireland."

Dr Cillian De Gascun, Medical Virologist and Director of the National Virus Reference Laboratory, said:

"The ECDC Assessment states that preliminary analyses indicate that the South African variant is associated with a heightened viral load and may have increased transmissibility. It also states that there is no evidence to date that this variant is associated with higher severity of infection.

"There is currently not enough information available to determine whether this variant poses a possible risk related to vaccine match and effectiveness. The antigenic characterisation of this new variant is ongoing, and results are expected in the coming weeks."

The COVID-19 Dashboard provides up-to-date information on the key indicators of COVID-19 in the community.

ENDS

Today’s cases, 14-day incidence rate per 100,000 population and new cases in last 14 days (as of midnight 7 January 2021) (incidence rate based on Census 2016 county population)

County Today’s Cases (to midnight 7/1/21) 14-Day incidence rate per 100,000 population (14 days to midnight 7/1/21) New Cases during last 14 days (14 days to midnight 7/1/21)
Ireland 8,248 1087.7 51,795
Monaghan 191 2119.4 1,301
Louth 295 1839.6 2,371
Limerick 538 1609.6 3,137
Donegal 310 1290.9 2,055
Dublin 3,013 1288.5 17,361
Cavan 104 1287.8 981
Cork 1,374 1132.9 6,150
Clare 253 1121.1 1,332
Sligo 70 1068.1 700
Mayo 130 983.1 1,283
Meath 208 968.5 1,889
Waterford 119 958 1,113
Wexford 131 946.4 1,417
Kerry 262 924.8 1,366
Carlow 41 902.8 514
Kildare 314 870.1 1,936
Offaly 72 824.8 643
Longford 34 797.6 326
Kilkenny 41 792.1 786
Laois 55 742.6 629
Westmeath 113 652.2 579
Galway 220 639.8 1,651
Leitrim 43 639.7 205
Roscommon 57 601.1 388
Tipperary 156 577.9 922
Wicklow 104 533.6 760
  • the 7-day incidence is 889.4 per 100,000 of population
  • the 5-day moving average is 6,800

Hospital statistics

Total number of cases 127,637
Total number hospitalised 6,761
Total number admitted to ICU 750
Total number of deaths 2,070
Total number of healthcare workers 13,486
Number clusters notified 10,912
Cases associated with clusters 45,942
Median age 37
  • All statistics measured at midnight on Wednesday 6 January.

Gender of patients

Gender Number of cases
Male 60,779
Female 66,715
Unknown 143
Total 127,637
  • All statistics measured at midnight on Wednesday 6 January.

Age range affected

Age range Number of cases
0 - 4 3,325
5 - 14 8,187
15 - 24 23,373
25 - 34 23,030
35 - 44 20,045
45 - 54 18,915
55 - 64 14,293
65 - 74 7,074
75 - 84 5,215
85+ 4,146
Unknown 34
  • All statistics measured at midnight on Wednesday 6 January.

How COVID-19 is spreading

Transmission classification %
Community transmission 45
Close contact with confirmed case 45.2
Travel abroad 0.9
Unknown 8.9
  • All statistics measured at midnight on Wednesday 6 January.

Note:

When a person tests positive for COVID-19 but hasn't been abroad or had a known contact with another confirmed case in Ireland, that's known as community transmission.

In the event that a person who tests positive for COVID-19 can be linked to another confirmed case in Ireland, that's known as close contact.

Hospitalised cases by age group

Age range Number of cases
0 - 4 70
5 - 14 70
15 - 24 264
25 - 34 450
35 - 44 535
45 - 54 836
55 - 64 941
65 - 74 1,213
75 - 84 1,469
85+ 911
Unknown 2
  • All statistics measured at midnight on Wednesday 6 January.

Cases by county

County Number of cases Change since the day before
Carlow 1,313 +137
Cavan 3,258 +115
Clare 2,702 +406
Cork 11,914 +559
Donegal 5,562 +186
Dublin 45,345 +2,176
Galway 4,446 +184
Kerry 2,774 +117
Kildare 6,124 +250
Kilkenny 2,191 +173
Laois 1,776 +82
Leitrim 448 +15
Limerick 6,104 +332
Longford 1,025 +28
Louth 4,782 +164
Mayo 2,851 +118
Meath 5,475 +239
Monaghan 2,581 +114
Offaly 1,836 +94
Roscommon 1,341 +31
Sligo 1,486 +83
Tipperary 2,522 +186
Waterford 2,262 +292
Westmeath 2,080 +43
Wexford 2,983 +341
Wicklow 2,456 +141
  • All statistics measured at midnight on Wednesday 6 January.

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