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LAST UPDATE | 28 Feb 2021
PUBLIC HEALTH OFFICIALS have confirmed a further 612 cases of Covid-19 in Ireland, including 289 cases in Dublin.
The National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) has reported that six more people have died with Covid-19, bringing the death toll to 4,319.
The total number of confirmed cases in Ireland now stands at 219,592.
Of the cases notified today:
The ages of those who died ranged between 41 and 86, with a median of 63. All of the deaths occurred in February.
At 8am today, 554 Covid-19 patients were hospitalised, of which 133 were in ICU. 19 more people with Covid-19 have been admitted to hospital in the last 24 hours.
The national 14-day incidence rate is 212.2 cases per 100,000 people today.
By county, it is highest in Offaly, Longford, and Dublin, and lowest in Kerry, Cork and Kilkenny.
Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr Ronan Glynn said that “since the first case of Covid-19 was confirmed in Ireland last February, our lives have changed in ways we never thought possible”.
“More than 6,300 people on our island have lost their lives with Covid-19. We remember them, and their families and friends, as well as the many people who remain seriously ill or who are dealing with long-term health issues because of this disease,” Dr Glynn said.
“The response of colleagues across all parts of our health system has been remarkable. We should be extraordinarily proud, and take great heart, from the dedication and resilience which has been – and continues to be – shown by everyone involved in this response,” he said.
Dr Glynn said that there are “more concrete reasons for hope and optimism now than at any time over the last 12 months”, citing weekly reductions in case numbers and hospital patients, the rollout of the vaccine, and the commitment of health workers.
“We have an educated and informed public and most people continue to do most of the right things most of the time – overcoming disinformation and playing their part in solidarity with one another,” he said.
“We still have a way to go. Our case numbers are still far too high and we must continue to do all we can to suppress this disease over the coming weeks. But if we can do this successfully through March, our focus will begin to turn to what we can do, rather than what we cannot.
“Yes, we need to be cautious and yes, there will be challenges over the coming months. But together, through science and solidarity, we will get through this and this pandemic will end.”
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It seems more are getting the virus than the vaccine
@Daniel Dunne: ???
@Mickety Dee: vaccine roll out is as slow as you were in picking up the point I was making
@Daniel Dunne: The roll out here needs a lot of work as reports daily of the Vaccine not arriving or to much has arrived. However I do like numbers and I do look at NI who have since late December 2020 getting their jabs and there numbers is still out there. How long before here and in NI is the time range to see a drop or do they even know.
@Daniel Dunne: Nope. More people have been vaccinated in 2 months than got the virus in a year.
@Daniel Dunne: Don’t worry Daniel. Gary will be along shortly to tell you & us how fantastic we’re doing & how we’re top bla bla in the EU bla bla.
@Thomas Armstrong: Is English your first language? Your post is difficult to read and to comprehend.
We’re actually doing fantastic, the bla bla chart has us right up there as best bla bla in EU bla blas by populatbla.
@Daniel Dunne: vaccine…bud, unless you’re connected, you won’t be getting it until 2022…..still thousands of FL workers without it…..if you believe the shower in charge of this, already in charge of a FAILED health system before covid, then, I cant help you…..
@Biscuits Patinkin: Is that you Gary lol
@Dave Phelan: They were definitely words though.
@Dave Phelan: you need help, bud?
@D.B: Yes. What is the point in posting if you cannot write sentences clearly. I too have seen one or two posts trying to make a point but clearly they cannot spell. There are one or two trying to make their point but their spelling and grammar let them down.
@Daniel Dunne: Back to school for you as you cant do maths
@Daniel Dunne: Or numbers are actually in the top ten in Europe. They are using it as they get it with a small back up supply.
Only can use what you have.
@Daniel Dunne: next week the vaccine should beat the reported cases of infection ,
at christmas we were 28th in the eu 27 + uk of new infections per million, now we are 8th, a bit of perspective
@Dave Phelan: Good point, Dave.
@Kevin O’Brien: Thats what the numbers show, the facts thats all. Sorry if you dislike the facts and the reality of what is happening. All of it is online.
@Daniel Dunne: No doubt about it
@D.B: did someone take your dummy bub bubs?
@Gary Kearney: And where does the EU rank against the rest of the world in terms of vacations ? ..
Ireland is in the top 5 in spend per captia on Health
Ireland is in the top 7 out of 28 countries in how our Politicians are payed and in the top 2 if measured per captia ..
Ireland is number 1 in Europe in debt per captia
@Daniel Dunne: Only if you don’t know how numbers work.
Doctor on the radio this week said that 4 patients didn’t turn up for their vaccine and he had to throw them away because the government does not allow doctors to give them to anyone but people they are assigned to. The doc said he would have taken people off the street and offer it to them and rightly so. What a pack of mup pets we have running this country and shamefully one of them is a doctor
@Denice Cunningham: sure when they did use leftovers people gave out like mad, can’t please everyone
@Denice Cunningham: also the people who didn’t turn shouldn’t be offered it again till everyone else have a chance to get it
@Denice Cunningham: is this actually true? Could any doctor be thick enough to do this? I seriously doubt it and I thought that there were lists of replacements available at a moments notice! Failing that , yes, take anyone off the street. Common sense!
@Dave Phelan: It’s obviously not true. Some people just make things up for likes.
@Derek Walsh: nice one Walshy..
@Denice Cunningham: very funny as my cousin is a nurse who is currently vaccinating the elderly in the GP office she works in. The HSE told them not to waste any vaccines and they could go to spouses or any one further down the list. I get the feeling your story might not be completely true.
@Denice Cunningham: That clearly didn’t happen, Irish people love a good moan
@Denice Cunningham: Why did the doctor not bring some people in from the streets instead of wasting the vaccines? That is what they did in Israel ….
@Denice Cunningham: Why did the doctor not bring some people in from the streets instead of wasting the vaccines? That is what they did in Israel ….I’ll
@Denice Cunningham: The doctor should have used his common sense and brought someone in from the street …..Don’t waste precious vaccine!
@Denice Cunningham: there is no government rule saying that doctors can’t give the vaccine to anyone it’s not “assigned to”. In fact I know of dozens of examples of places around the country giving leftover vaccines to people on site or within reach when there is leftover vaccine due to not everyone turning up or other reasons.
How long will it be until the figures shoot up again after that nonsense in Dublin yesterday ?
@Peadár Ó’Cearnacháin: 2 weeks.
@Peadár Ó’Cearnacháin: As long as it took the figures to go up after the BLM protest last summer and the blanchardstown riots of January 2021.
@Peadár Ó’Cearnacháin: regardless of the muppetry on display, there are likely to be zero cases as a result of what happened..
@Peadár Ó’Cearnacháin: If anything, the infections would go up with the schools reopening. That protest yesterday is hardly going to shoot up the infections in the fresh air outdoors. And I’m not defending the mass congregations, but people will blame the protest yesterday instead of what will really cause cases to shoot up which would evidently be classrooms.
@David Lee: and as long as it takes for the mob at the airports and ports…..
@Peadár Ó’Cearnacháin: they won’t
@Peadár Ó’Cearnacháin: Agree but if you read the figures coming into the country, we will never get things right, it’s not hard to know who is running the country.
@Peadár Ó’Cearnacháin: they were outside, therefore unlikely to go up at all
@Peadár Ó’Cearnacháin: anyone there unlikely to get tested so probably won’t go up at all
@David Lee:
99% of people at BLM wore masks, and spares, sanitiser and gloves were in abundance. Not a single mask at the show yesterday
@Peadár Ó’Cearnacháin: There were only a couple of hundred people. It was outdoors. It’s not going to make a measurable difference.
@Derek Walsh: You don’t know that.
Yesterday’s madness in Dublin will not help the situation.
@James: definitely not, however those people likely have got antibodies since they never cared about wearing masks and social distancing in the last one year, there’s a chance we probably won’t see a sharp increase of cases in the next few weeks .
@Alex:
Do you think doctor?
@James: it also won’t make any real difference, when thousands of parents start meeting and having a chat outside schools all over the country soon will this be categorised as madness
@James: I am from Dublin and all the clowns out yesterday were out caws trouble nothing else
@Alex: what?
@James Joseph: he might be right, doctor….
@James:This was the real protest. That one incident was isolated and the protest was peaceful with the guards walking down o’Connell street beside the crowd and no trouble.
@D.B:
I would prefer to wait until there is at least some scientific evidence before speculating. Wouldn’t you? Professional ethics would dictate that a doctor wait until there is solid scientific evidence and not speculate on possibilities that have zero evidence to support them. What do you think doctor?
@James: neither did black lives matter “nonsense” in January
@James Joseph: well, it’s hard to tell, doctor. BUT…one year after its emergence, the SARS-CoV-2 population has accumulated over 75 mutations, which could have implications not only for vaccines but also for monoclonal antibody-based therapies. Recent evidence suggests that SARS-CoV-2 S protein has a higher binding affinity to the human ACE2 receptor than SARS-CoV-1. A study shows that this is because the SARS-CoV-2 receptor binding domain interacts with a sugar (or glycan) attached to an amino acid (asparagine in position 90) on ACE2. This interaction is absent in the SARS-CoV-1 virus. These results could help develop new strategies to block viral infection. What do you think, doctor? Of course, people should follow the science but 20 million years of life has been lost to Covid-19.
@artur fil: Exactly. Watched footage from the protest for about an hour this morning. Very peaceful apart from this one terrible incident. Maybe 1% that fall into the right wing nutter/s<umbag/thug category. Unfortunately though it seems that people absolutely love to paint everybody with the same brush when it suits their agenda.
@D.B:
You said yourself in the last sentence. People should follow the science. A lay man’s SPECULATIONS IS NOT SCIENCE. I don’t now about you but I will wait until there is actually solid science from the experts in the field and not rely on the speculations of some Internet self-appointed scientists. All that does is create confusion among the gullible. What do you think doctor?
@James Joseph: the assumption is based on:
1. Masks and social distance can reduce the chance of transmission
2. People who recovered from covid-19 might develop antibodies and keep it for a certain duration
3. Many of the people attending the protest yesterday have got covid once or even more times since one year ago
You can question any of the above.
@James Joseph: also, those three are also assumptions.
@James Joseph: I’m watching the football now, doctor. Good points though….
@mar: they were in a mass group, it has nothing to do with agenda, it is just fact.
@Alex:
1)you are assuming that just because they are protesting that they have never wore masks or social distance. There is no evidence that they are genuine protesters. What upstarts do in private and what they do publicly are often two different things. The protest was against lockdowns not anti masks. There actions result in longer lockdowns which is a further indication that they are not genuine protesters. I doubt many of the brain dead have many friends to social distance from in the first place. But I am only speculating.
2) “Might” is NOT sold science. Which is my point. It is just speculation with no scientific evidence to support it.
3) How do you know that any of them ever got covid-19? Is that pure speculation? Or a definite fact?
What you have is not science doctor.
@D.B:
Enjoy the football.
@James Joseph: Enjoy the football, DOCTOR. No respect…
@James Joseph: you going for the Stephen Donnelly look ?
@Hugo Bugo: Meeting outside unlikely to cause much of a spike. Also with schools, it’s mostly people living in the same area and the same pool of people meeting every day – unlike international travel which ultimately leads to a greater number of people mixing and transmitting different variants. That said, personally I think it’s a bit soon to be opening secondary schools.
@Biscuits Patinkin:
I won’t be watching the football. And I have enough respect for the victims of covid 19 to stick with the facts and not create false hope. How do you show your respect doctor?
@Eoin Ó Cuinneagáin:
Or maybe he is going for my look.
@James Joseph: Sorry James, I was implying that you should have finished your ‘enjoy the football’ message with ‘doctor’, as a joke. Reading it back I sound like a deeek.
@artur fil: They should have batoned them off the streets. No more than thugs and gangsters.
I’d love to know what are plans are. Because as far as i can see, we dont have much of a plan. The vaccine is not the silver bullet people are hoping it will be. There is a lot of mixed messages in the media about the future after vaccinations.
What happened in Dublin yesterday (The protest, not the violence) was a result of the extent of the lock downs which are effecting everyone differently. The media doesn’t help with a lot of scare mongering stories, all that achieves is working people up.
Unfortunate fact is life is not just black and white. These lockdowns are destroying peoples lives in many ways not reported on. And economy is important i’m afraid.
We can only hope yesterdays protest wasn’t too much of a setback.
@mark connolly: have you seen the drip in cases in israel ?? Also many companies are working in a cure for those that still get sick after vaccine roll out .
@bmul: Well its good that cases have dropped. I just feel there has been too much focus on the vaccine, allowing the can to be kicked down the road repeatedly.
These lockdowns are not just as simple as sitting in to watch netflix or whatever. People are social creatures, the effects of isolation in most areas is highly damaging, and it just seems to be going on and on. Especially with our rollout. Society should begin to open as soon as the most vulnerable are vaccinated. Indeed that was the only way people went along with this in the first place
@mark connolly: Hold on, what happened in Dublin yesterday was not the result of lockdowns, it was the result of thugs being frustrated that they didn’t have their usual outlet for violence available, outside night clubs and in dark streets and alleyways, where they normally get to damage other human beings.
@Gerry Ryan: I’m afraid i must disagree. Unfortunately the people you mentioned were there and part of the protest, and their action should be condemned, however the simple reality is your average man is more then fed up with these lock downs and should well be.
It may very well be a different experience in cities, but in more rural areas its felt like we have had level 5 for a year. People are really suffering, mentally, physically, losing their business and loved ones to many other things then the virus. Something was going to give.
Media doesn’t help with the mixed messages and flaring things up. Unfortunately there will always be a bunch of thugs willing to hijack a protest for their own purposes. That being said, it looked rather large, i’m sure most were there, because they felt they had reasons to be
@mark connolly: The plan is working but it changes almost daily as it dealing with a virus and the circumstances change almost daily.
They have multiple plans for different situations and adapt them as they go. Thats is the way pandemic are managed.
The media are reporting the news and nothing else, some media will spin it but overall it is fair. Right wing media and trump media, fox etc they are scaremongering
@Gary Kearney: “They have multiple plans” hahaha. That’s best I’ve heard yet, even from your standard of drivel.
@Kevin O’Brien: I had to laugh a bit as well.
@Gary Kearney: They really do not have multiple plans. They are winging it at best. There are also plenty of news sites throwing out information that seems simply designed to get people worked up.
@Gary Kearney: You can’t honestly believe what you’re posting here. Even backbenchers within the parties are getting frustrated with the lack of planning. It has been dismal.
Well done to the Garda in Dublin yesterday they should have called in the Army
@Tony Martin: we dont have an army….and…..are you from china? why didnt you come in on your pretend tank?
@Tony Martin That one incident was isolated and the protest was peaceful with the guards walking down o’Connell street beside the crowd and no trouble. So you still want Army??
@Tony Martin: You are such a tough no nonsense guy. I admire you.
Wel done to all the health care workers in our hospitals and care homes they are true heroes not forgetting all the other front line staff THANK U ALL VERY MUCH
I supported the first lockdown and subsequent lockdowns, I been supporting government decisions as I trust they do believe and know what is best for this country…. But this current lockdown is a JOKE, level 5 restrictions? The traffic in Galway City over the weekend, people going places and definitely not for essential reasons, no checkpoints, crowds gathering in town to enjoy the good weather, people visiting other houses (yes, it’s definitely happening) and yet we are at the highest customised level, this can’t be a serious effort, by no one, is the government now really scrambling figuring out what to do while the vaccine roll out takes place?
@Deathwish: The vaccine roll out by the way is just disappointing and just shows how far we are in the queue as nation. Disappointed but not surprised as they say.
All the mouthing about northern Ireland and keeping them out and now they have cases down to 136 and 3 deaths, Northern Ireland and the UK will be keeping us out soon for making a bags of it, or maybe the vaccines will bail out the government for their complete incompetence over the last 12 months, they really have seemed like a boxer about to get KO over the last few weeks, but they will be out taking the bragging rights if the vaccines save their arses, we should never have been in such a poor position from start of the year where we have to indure a 5 month level 5 lockdown which isn’t even properly implemented so more good people suffer for longer and make the majority of the sacrifices
@Hugo Bugo: vaccines bailing our incompetence is the very definition of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland 2020 to 2021. But with a sprinkle of crusty imperialism and anti science dinosaurism thrown in.
@Hugo Bugo: Bragging rights, you actually got that right, that is what they are trying to get. As they made such a mess off it from the start they need to be on top of some list apart from the most dead from the virus in Europe. We are ahead of the vaccination curve in Europe and will have bith injections done as planned with the amount of vaccines we have. Both injections not one as they are doing in the UK
@Hugo Bugo: this is great news that the NI numbers are falling. Our chance of having infection moving south across the border or indeed flying in from the UK will significantly reduce. We all know that the UK were one of the first countries to do a good deal on vaccination. Whilst we will be significantly behind them it is far better than if their vaccine response was slow.
@Gary Kearney: Have you checked the stats lately Gary? 11th in Europe now and Europe has been bad at rolling out the vaccine. This has been admitted by the president of the EU, so nothing to be proud of there.
Also, the interval the UK has been using has been proven to be just as effective. Prof Luke O’Neill himself has said as a result the two dose vaccines might eventually become one dose as a result.
Yes, they have had a lot of deaths but are you so defensive of our shambolic handling of this whole thing that you can’t admit their vaccine roll out has been impressive?
Why cant we baton charge those coming through arrivals at Dublin airport? Its a suggestion…..let it stew….
Dublin not coming down anytime soon with the rocket scientist convention yesterday
Why are we including the north’s death toll to ours, isn’t ours bad enough?
As long as we have protests like we did last Saturday, while our border remains open and those who think of this as a hoax, we will never be rid of this virus
RIP to the six more that tragically lost their lives to this terrible virus
This is not a serious pandemic, overall, the more serious one is people, who have been stuck inside of their dwellings, in fear of leaving, fearing they are going to be attacked, murdered, be involved in a hostage situation raped, be involved in a terrorist attack, fear of traveling, and been involved in an accident, fear of going to a doctor, and facing a diagnoses of cancer, (nothing as scary, when a family, member is given those words, and you know it is a family issue, and then we all ask among us who is next?) Millions of young people are in front of screen as I type this, spending their life, playing games, (the reason why there is huge money in the business,) I knew a guy in San Francisco, hugely into these games, got so far in a game, he had to pay to get any further, not only that, he had to up-date his equipment, at cost of thousands, just so he could carry on playing the game. Biggest con of all), they are stuck in front of a screen, for the pure purpose of playing the game, not realising how much is actually manipulated against them, just bait to the system, so much so, they will eat drink, and barely leave their room, maybe just going to the toilet, and pile on the weight, which is a far greater issue to our medical system, than anything else, obesity.
@Peter Dunwoody: “, in fear of leaving, fearing they are going to be attacked, murdered, be involved in a hostage situation raped, be involved in a terrorist attack, fear of traveling, and been involved in an accident, fear of going to a doctor, and facing a diagnoses of cancer” you missed out a few particularly going out of our dood and catching a deadly virus. Then passing it onto many others who fall ill and some will die. That is missed out.
@Peter Dunwoody: what kind of rambling nonsense is that?
We have a death rate over the last year world wide, and infection rate, not that much greater than our average flu deaths, in fact if they began back checking, deaths, they would come up with a greater number of deaths due to the flu. on average 2 million people die from AIDs alone, every year, over 36 million since that virus evolved, more than 80 million people, walking around today, with AIDS, and with all of their supposedly vaccines, still no magic cure, for anything, and even if they did do you really think they would release it?
@Peter Dunwoody: Thats been rebutted so many times. Try something new, you kidnapping line that was imaginative.
@Peter Dunwoody: Aids is manageable now very manageable. So yes they have released the drugs to do it. However not everybody has access to them
@Gary Kearney: when did you get AIDs so sorry to hear that…. hope your ok
@Peter Dunwoody: But in reality, there is a pandemic and there is a vaccine, your incoherent ramblings notwithstanding.
Schools reopening tomorrow and with the best will in the world numbers are only going to go one way again… up unfortunatly.
@John Smith: should have left schools closed until after Easter
Great to see kids back to school just hope not to soon and lock down again into summer.
Yes where are the vacancies
@Gerard Heanue: in every hotel , boom boom
But but but how can that be with SF in government up there
@Paddy Hopper: The IRA killing all the infected.
@Paddy Hopper: Vaccination has nothing to do with Stormont. Vaccines were procured & distributed to the various governments by Westminster.
@Eoin Ó Cuinneagáin:
Not surprisingly my point clearly went over your head. I said not surprisingly because most anti vaccine die hards don’t have the intellectual capacity to understand their own sheer st***dity. So I’ll explain it for you. I was sarcastically making the point that there is a 99.9% change that two pensioners dying hours after receiving the vaccine had absolutely nothing to do with them receiving the vaccine. Much in the same way that there is a 99.9% chance of two pensioners dying after eating their breakfast having absolutely nothing what to do with them eating their breakfast. Now do you understand Einstein?
@James Joseph: ok Stephen Donnelly look wannabe
Have politicians ever been so irrelevant. Just take inspiration and instructions from a medical council
County by County basis should be taken I to account at this stage. Once the hospitals are doing OK I don’t see why not
Great to see kids back to school, just hope not to soon and lock down again into summer. Yes where are the vacancies
@Gerard Heanue: no idea, pal….we’ll have to wait for them….
@D.B: thanks for the advice Doctor.
@GrumpyAulFella: you know…in our profession we have to be transparent…..thank you for the support, doctor….
Open up the south. Jackeens can’t help themselves.
6 deaths and 613 cases….No better time to open schools two weeks before St Patrick’s days and five weeks before Easter so.
More than 6300 lost their lives ?? Thought it was 4300??
@Sarah Gannon: That number includes NI.
Wait for it …….
@Sidney Cooper: pubs lads
Hopefully they will soon be able to bring new incentives and improve the healthcare system before the next virus.
have your say