Statement from the National Public Health Emergency Team - Thursday 16 April
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From: Department of Health
- Published on: 16 April 2020
- Last updated on: 16 April 2020
The Health Protection Surveillance Centre has today been informed that 43 people diagnosed with COVID-19 in Ireland have died:
- 34 deaths located in the east, 4 in the west, 5 in the south of the country
- the people included 22 males and 21 females
- the median age of today’s reported deaths is 84
- 27 people were reported as having underlying health conditions
There have now been 486* COVID-19 related deaths in Ireland. (1 case that was earlier reported has now been discounted.)
As of 1pm Wednesday 15 April, the HPSC has been notified of the following cases:
- an additional 629 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 reported by Irish laboratories
- an additional 95 confirmed cases of COVID-19 reported by a laboratory in Germany
With the latest figures from Germany included, there are now a total of 13,271 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ireland.
The HSE is working to identify any contacts the patients may have had to provide them with information and advice to prevent further spread.
Professor Philip Nolan, Chair of NPHET Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group, said:
“Our model today is showing four reproductive numbers, illustrating the different stages of the disease in Ireland over the past 6 weeks.
“We now estimate our R0 to be between 0.7 and 1.0, which means current restrictions are successfully suppressing the disease.”
Dr. Tony Holohan, Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health, said:
"The data clearly shows that there are two very different experiences of COVID-19 in Ireland today. In the population at large, the virus is contained and effectively suppressed.
“However, the experience of the disease in long-term residential care settings continues to be a source of concern.
“In order to protect the vulnerable the first task was to suppress the virus in the population at large. We are increasingly confident that we are achieving this. All of our efforts now need to be on extinguishing COVID-19 in our community residential settings, including nursing homes.”
You can see the latest data on the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) Dashboard.
ENDS
Notes to the Editor:
- Validation of data at the HPSC this week resulted in the denotification of 1 death. The figure of 486 deaths reflects this.
Research conducted on behalf of the Department of Health shows that 28% of the population say they have delayed seeking medical care in the last month.
The nationally representative online survey of 1,270 adults conducted today, which is conducted twice weekly, reveals:
- women are significantly more likely than men to have delayed seeking medical attention (34% vs 21%)
- fear of potential infection is the main reason for delaying seeking medical attention especially for women (59%) and under 35’s (63%)
- the percentage of people behaving safely continues to rise for behaviours such as washing hands (94%), using sanitiser (92%) and coughing into their elbow (77%)
Cases as of Tuesday, 14 April
The data from the HPSC, as of midnight, Tuesday 14 April (12,425 cases), reveals:
- 55% are female and 45% are male, with 425 clusters involving 2,451 cases
- the median age of confirmed cases is 48 years
- 2,026 cases (16%) have been hospitalised
- of those hospitalised, 284 cases have been admitted to ICU
- 3,090 cases are associated with healthcare workers
- Dublin has the highest number of cases at 6,337 (51% of all cases) followed by Cork with 916 cases (7%)
- of those for whom transmission status is known: community transmission accounts for 51%, close contact accounts for 43%, travel abroad accounts for 6%
Hospital statistics
| Total number of cases | 12425 | |
| Total number hospitalised | 2026 | |
| Total number admitted to ICU | 284 | |
| Total number of deaths | 480 | |
| Total number of healthcare workers | 2451 | |
| Number clusters notified | 425 | |
| Cases associated with clusters | 2451 | |
| Median age | 48 |
- All statistics measured at midnight on Tuesday 14 April.
Gender of patients
| Gender | Number | % of Total |
| Female | 6778 | 54.6 |
| Male | 5336 | 44.6 |
| Unknown | 111 | 0.9 |
| Total | 12425 |
- All statistics measured at midnight on Tuesday 14 April.
Age range affected
| Age Group | Number | % of Total |
| <1 | 28 | 0.2 |
| 1 - 4 | 44 | 0.4 |
| 5 - 14 | 124 | 1 |
| 15 - 24 | 809 | 6.5 |
| 25 - 34 | 2145 | 17.3 |
6|35 - 44|2315|18.5|
| 45 - 54 | 2395 | 19.2 |
| 55 - 64 | 1806 | 14.5 |
| 65+ | 273 | 22 |
| Unknown | 20 | 0.2 |
- All statistics measured at midnight on Tuesday 14 April.
How COVID-19 is spreading
| Community transmission | 51% |
| Close contact with confirmed case | 43% |
| Travel Abroad | 6% |
- All statistics measured at midnight on Tuesday 14 April.
Note:
In the event that a person tests positive for COVID-19 and hasn't been abroad or had 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 local transmission.
Hospitalised cases by age group
| Age range | Number of cases | Percentage of total |
| <5 | 13 | 0.6 |
| 5 - 14 | 4 | 0.2 |
| 15 - 24 | 43 | 2.1 |
| 25 - 34 | 132 | 6.5 |
| 35 - 44 | 164 | 8.1 |
| 45 - 54 | 298 | 14.7 |
| 55 - 64 | 308 | 15.2 |
| 65+ | 1062 | 52.4 |
| Unknown | 2 | 0.1 |
- All statistics measured at midnight on Tuesday 14 April.
Cases by county
| Carlow | 59 | 0.5% |
| Cavan | 310 | 2.3=5% |
| Clare | 119 | 1% |
| Cork | 916 | 7.4% |
| Donegal | 320 | 2.6% |
| Dublin | 6337 | 51% |
| Galway | 260 | 2.1% |
| Kerry | 246 | 2% |
| Kildare | 567 | 4.6% |
| Kilkenny | 173 | 1.4% |
| Laois | 133 | 1.1% |
| Leitrim | 43 | 0.4% |
| Limerick | 307 | 2.5% |
| Longford | 77 | 0.6% |
| Louth | 350 | 2.8% |
| Mayo | 249 | 2% |
| Meath | 405 | 3.3% |
| Monaghan | 161 | 1.3% |
| Offaly | 163 | 1.3% |
| Roscommon | 57 | 0.5% |
| Sligo | 66 | 0.5% |
| Tipperary | 251 | 2% |
| Waterford | 101 | 0.8% |
| Westmeath | 309 | 2.5% |
| Wexford | 71 | 0.6% |
| Wicklow | 375 | 3% |
- All statistics measured at midnight on Tuesday 14 April.
≤ means 'less than or equal to'.