Hope that the worst of the pandemic is behind us is “justified”.
There have been no new Covid-19 related deaths reported to the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) today.
That said, the HPSC has been notified of 437 additional confirmed cases of Covid-19.
There has now been a total of 4,422 Covid related deaths and 223,651 confirmed cases in Ireland.
According to Amárach research data, 48% of people feel the worst of the pandemic is behind us, it was also revealed tonight.
In response, Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr Ronan Glynn said this hope is “justified”, though he warned against complacency.
He said in a statement: “This hope is justified in the context of the continued improvement in the key indicators of the disease and with the ongoing rollout of the vaccination programme over the coming weeks.
“However, it is vital that this hope does not give way to complacency; across Europe countries are seeing a deteriorating picture and our own disease incidence remains high.
“We must do all we can to continue to suppress this virus and to ensure that as many people as possible get to benefit from vaccination over the coming months. Keep your guard up and hold firm.”
Of the cases notified, 216 are men and 218 are women.
71% are under 45 years of age with the median age being 34 years old.
In terms of the county breakdown, 184 of the cases are in Dublin, 31 are in Limerick, 26 are in Donegal, 20 are in Galway and 18 are in Offaly.
The remaining 158 cases are spread across all other counties.
As of 8am today, 418 Covid-19 patients are hospitalised, of which 103 are in ICU.
20 additional hospitalisations occurred in the past 24 hours.
As of last Friday, there have been 513,322 doses of Covid-19 vaccine administered in Ireland.
363,601 people have received their first dose and 149,721 people have received their second dose.
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