Covid-19 update for Sunday, December 13, 2020

The statement from the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET), which was updated today (Sunday, December 13, 2020), confirmed that the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HSPC) had today been notified of 1 additional death related to COVID-19.

There have now  been a total of 2,124 Covid-19 related deaths in Ireland.

As of midnight Saturday 12 December, the HPSC was notified of 429 confirmed cases of COVID-19. There has now been a total of 76,185 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Ireland.

Of the cases notified today: 198 were men and 230 were women; 66% were under 45 years of age; and the median age was 34 years old.

There were 46 positive Covid-19 cases in Donegal, 122 in Dublin,  30 in Limerick, 22 in Laois, 20 in Cork and the remaining 189 cases are spread across all other counties. The total number of positive Covid-19 cases is now standing at 3,250.

In Carndonagh Local Electoral Area (LEA), which encompasses North Inishowen, the Covid-19 14 Day Profile, from November 24 to December 7, 2020 was: 88 confirmed cases of Covid-19; and the LEA rate per 100k pop was 518.7, compared to the rate in the State, which was 80.2 per 100k population. The total Population of the Carndonagh LEA is 16,964.

In Buncrana LEA, which encompasses South Inishowen, the Covid-19 14 Day Profile, from November 24 to December 7, 2020, was 51 confirmed cases of Covid-19; and the LEA rate per 100k pop was 228, compared to the rate in the State, which was 80.2 per 100k population. The total population of the Buncrana LEA is 22,366.

As of 2pm today, 193 COVID-19 patients were hospitalised, of which 31 were in ICU. There have been 13 additional hospitalisations in the past 24 hours.

Dr Tony Holohan, Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health, said: "Today, I am concerned that we are seeing the incidence of Covid-19 rising again. 429 is a large number of cases by the standard of recent weeks and the five day moving average has now increased above 300 per day.

"Our efforts in Level 5 in recent weeks brought the 14-day incidence rate down to 78 per 100,000 population, put us in a position of having the lowest disease incidence in Europe and ultimately protected many people and saved many lives.

"Take today’s figures as a sign that we all must now reduce our social contacts, limit our interactions with those outside our households, weigh the risks of what socialising we are planning over the next two weeks, so that we can all have as safe a Christmas as possible."