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THERE ARE NOW a total of 118 Covid-19 coronavirus clusters in the Republic of Ireland, according to new figures.
A report published today by the HSE’s Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HSPC) found that out of the 118 clusters, which are outbreaks of positive cases that are likely to be connected, 24 had occurred in nursing homes.
The report published today analyses data as of midnight on 29 March, when the number of confirmed cases was Covid-19 was 2,677. There are now 3,235 cases of Covid-19 in the Republic of Ireland.
A total of 21 of the 24 nursing home clusters have been reported to be in the east of the country.
Clusters of confirmed cases were also recorded in 21 hospitals, 12 of which were located in the east of the country.
Of the 647 cases who were healthcare workers, 75% had no history of foreign travel in the 14 days prior to the onset of their symptoms.
In relation to nursing homes, the chief executive of Nursing Homes Ireland Tadgh Daly said it is “not appropriate” that nursing home workers are still waiting days for their test results.
Nursing home staff and residents are included in the HSE’s list of priority groups for testing.
Speaking on Newstalk Breakfast today, Daly said he is “concerned” about a lack of government prioritisation of the testing issue for nursing home staff.
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Earlier today, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said that Ireland is doing “a lot of tests” for Covid-19.
“In Ireland we’ve decided as a country, to do a lot of tests. We’re in the top tier of countries in the world when it comes to number of tests we’re doing. That’s the right thing to do in terms of containing the virus,” Varadkar said.
“But we are running into difficulties and we need to be honest with people and frank about that. There is a global shortage of testing kits, there’s a shortage of reagents, and we also need the laboratory capacity,” he said.
“So we are going to have bumps in the road where there are delays at particular points in time.”
Age profile
The age brackets which have seen the most confirmed cases are both the 35-44 and 45-54 ones, both making up 18.8% cases (503 and 504 cases).
Those over the age of 65 make up 21% of cases with 563.
Six children under the age of one have contracted the virus, while 11 children between the ages of one and four have tested positive.
There have been 30 cases among five to 14-year-olds and 178 cases in the 15-24 age bracket.
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A breakdown of cases also shows that so far 703 cases have been hospitalised, and 113 admitted to ICU.
Figures show that four children under the age of five and three children between the age of five and 14 have been admitted to hospital as of midnight on 29 March.
There were 61 cases between the ages of 25 and 34 hospitalised, with six people in the same age bracket admitted to ICU.
Those in the 65+ age bracket made up the majority of hospitalisations, with 321 cases, and the majority of ICU admittance at 43.
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Country of infection
The HPSC report also details the country in which each person is believed to have contracted the virus.
Most of the 2,677 confirmed cases are understood to have been contracted in Ireland – 1,462.
921 cases are of unknown origin, while 61 cases are associated with Italy, followed by 78 cases with the UK.
51 cases are associated with Austria, while another 30 cases are understood to have been contracted in Spain.
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County breakdown
Dublin remains the county with the largest volume of confirmed cases, reporting 1,487 (55.%).
This is followed by Cork with 238, Galway with 86, Westmeath with 77, and Wicklow with 73.
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Last night, the Department of Health confirmed a further 17 deaths and 325 new cases of Covid-19 in the Republic of Ireland.
It brings to 71 the number of deaths from Covid-19 in Ireland; the total number of confirmed coronavirus cases now stands at 3,235.
Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan says that number of contacts people who are confirmed to have Covid-19 have has reduced from around 20 before any measures were taken, then to five, and now to just three.
He also said that since the criteria for who should be tested was changed, the number of positive cases has risen from 6% of those who are tested, to 15% of all those who are tested.
With reporting by Press Association
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God help those people in the nursing homes. The residents and also the nurses and carers.
@David Corrigan: On March 11 when Nursing Homes Ireland imposed visitor restrictions to prevent the spread of COVID 19, Harris and the Department of Health said the measures were not necessary http://www.redfm.ie/news/coronavirus/nursing-homes-ireland-says-visitor-restrictions-amid-coronavirus-outbreak-are-responsible/
You have to stay away from nursing homes, it’s really hard if one or both of your parents are there but you have to be selfish and selfless at the same time, on another note would it not be beneficial to everyone if they said exactly where the clusters are, so everyone could avoid these places at all cost.
@aidan mccormack: Why? They have to be avoided at all costs as it is. There has been no visitors aloud for wks now.
My daughter had test re Covid 19 10 days ago. No result yet! We should be made aware of where these clusters are. It would stop people in those areas going out and hence contain virus!
@Getaldine Byrne: they shouldnt be going out anyway.Saying where the clusters are will lead to complacency in other areas
@Getaldine Byrne: I’ve been waiting 13 days since my daughter was tested and still no results. I appreciate that they have to prioritise critically ill and elderly first but in fairness 13 days is excessive.
@Trish O’Leary-Dunne: under 70’s are advised to social distance and walk within 2k radius. Inform yourself
@Getaldine Byrne: If she’s ill, she was supposed to self-isolate, until she knew one way or the other.
@Avril O’Sullivan: If she’s not sick she has no reason to worry. She shouldn’t be going out in any case, you don’t want her spreading it.
Are they going to give the real data on the testing numbers?
This crisis started 5 weeks ago, they should have been well on top of the nursing home situation 4 weeks ago.
It would be very interesting to see if some clusters are related to a few thousand Italian rugby fans piling into pubs in Ranelagh and Ballsbridge the weekend of the cancelled rugby match (when all the Italian fans were let come to Ireland anyway).
What is the minimum number for a “Cluster”?
@Garry Coll: 3
@David Corrigan: would 2 be a couple then
Table 5 could worryingly be misinterpreted as 89% of >65s dying. It actually represents that this age cohort overall accounts for 89% of deaths
@Brid Ni Dhubhlaing: You also need to note that the others are mostly 10 year age-group cohorts whilst 65+ is much bigger – eg 65 to 95+. Older people are more vulnerable but even with infection, it does not mean that 89% of those 65+ will die.
Any information on what area of the country the nursing home clusters are?
@Emer Caffrey: click the link where it mentions them. If I remember correctly from yesterday, the majority where in the East.
A Cluster F**k
Looking at the chart above, ‘Age-specific incidence rate’ is at least 67 for everyone over 25. That doesn’t make any sense.
have your say