Galway Bay newsroom – The Health Protection Surveillance Centre has today been notified of 54 additional deaths related to COVID-19. 

50 deaths occurred in January.

The median age of those who died is 85 years and the age range is 55-96 years. 

There has been a total of 3,120 COVID-19 related deaths in Ireland.

As of midnight, Tuesday 26th January, the HPSC has been notified of 1,335 confirmed cases of COVID-19. There is now a total of 191,182* confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ireland. 

Of the cases notified today:

• 618 are men / 711 are women
• 54% are under 45 years of age
• The median age is 43 years old
• 437 in Dublin, 114 in Cork, 78 in Galway, 71 in Meath, 61 in Louth and the remaining 574 cases are spread across all other counties**

As of 2pm today, 1,670 COVID-19 patients are hospitalised, of which 217 are in ICU. 81 additional hospitalisations in the past 24 hours.

Dr Tony Holohan, Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health, said: “The current 14 day incidence remains more than double the peak incidence experienced during previous Level 5 measures in October, therefore, now is not the time to drop your guard and start to interact with people outside your household. The risk of transmission in the community remains very high. We must continue to work towards reducing incidence of disease and preventing further hospitalisations and deaths.”

The COVID-19 Dashboard provides up-to-date information on the key indicators of COVID-19 in the community.

ENDS//

*Validation of data at the HPSC has resulted in the denotification of 4 confirmed cases. The figure of 191,182 confirmed cases reflects this.

**County data should be considered provisional as the national Computerised Infectious Disease Reporting System (CIDR) is a dynamic system and case details are continually being validated and updated.

• 7 Day Incidence is 249.7
• 5-day moving average is 1,383

Today’s cases, 5 day moving average ,14-day incidence rate per 100,000 population and new cases in last 14 days (as of midnight 26 January 2021) (incidence rate based on Census 2016 county population)

~The 5-day moving average of the number of new cases provides an appropriate indicator of current daily case numbers within a county. It takes account of any validation of cases for previous days and smooths out daily/weekend fluctuations in case numbers.

Galway Bay fm newsroom – A public information meeting will take place online tomorrow to discuss a proposed new cross-city bus link.

It would provide a new public transport corridor linking the west and east of the city.

Tomorrow’s meeting will provide information on the BusConnects Galway Cross-City link, which would run from University Road to the Dublin Road.

It’ll be a public transport corridor linking the western and eastern suburbs, through the city centre.

The project, funded through the NTA, aims to connect homes with places of work, study, retail and recreation, with improve public transport journey times and reliability.

It envisions the creation of high-quality public spaces, new and upgraded pedestrian and cyclist facilities, and priority for public transport, making it easier to move through the city.

Tomorrow’s meeting is organised by Galway Chamber in association with Galway City Council – and aims to provide an insight into the scheme and the outcomes it will bring for businesses in the city.

The online meeting will take place tomorrow morning between 9.30 and 11am – further information can be found at Galwaychamber.com.

Galway Bay fm newsroom – NUI Galway has announced a new partnership with LIFT Ireland that is the first of its kind in the country, aimed at building leadership skills across third level institutions.

LIFT Ireland is a non-profit initiative to raise the level of leadership nationwide through the development of key leadership qualities and skills.

It provides training to a wide range of groups – ranging from multi-national corporations to SMEs, NGOs, schools, sports organisations and individuals.

The programme is delivered through roundtable sessions, which focus on key leadership values, such as honesty, competence, accountability, empathy, respect and positive attitude.

Today’s announcement of the parternship between NUI Galway and LIFT will see more than 200 staff and students trained as facilitators by April.

These facilitators will then go on to help train a further 1,500 staff and students at NUI Galway in leadership skills throughout the year.

These students at NUI Galway who availed of the pilot scheme last year share their experience of the leadership training.

NUI Galway President Professor Ciarán Ó hOgartaigh says the new partnership will play an important role in cementing NUI Galway’s position as a leading university – for more on this, tune in to FYI Galway@5…