Galway Bay fm newsroom – The Health Protection Surveillance Centre has today been notified of 35 additional deaths related to COVID-19.

21 of these deaths occurred in February, 12 occurred in January, 1 in November, while one further death is under investigation.

The median age of those who died was 85 years and the age range was 53 – 102 years.

There has been a total of 4,271 COVID-19 related deaths in Ireland.

As of midnight, Wednesday 24th February, the HPSC has been notified of 613 confirmed cases of COVID-19. There is now a total of 217,478* confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ireland. 

Of the cases notified today:

• 308 are men / 304 are women
• 66% are under 45 years of age
• The median age is 34 years old
• 224 in Dublin, 39 in Limerick, 37 in Meath, 34 in Westmeath, 33 in Offaly and the remaining 246 cases are spread across all other counties. **

As of 8am today, 591 COVID-19 patients are hospitalised, of which 138 are in ICU. 20 additional hospitalisations in the past 24 hours.

As of February 22, 359,616 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in Ireland:

• 226,291 people have received their first dose
• 133,325 people have received their second dose

Dr Ronan Glynn, Deputy Medical Officer, Department of Health, said: “We are making good progress and can see that many of the key indicators of disease levels in our communities are continuing to fall. This progress is the reason we are able to reopen our schools in a cautious and phased basis.”

“However, we must remember that COVID-19 is still circulating at a high level and, we are still seeing positivity rates of around 15% in the community. As we see more of our children return to school next week, it is important that we continue to follow all of the public health guidance, including on the school run.”

“Maintain a social distance at all times, wear a face covering, do not mix with other households other than for essential reasons, wash our hands, and most importantly, ensure that children do not attend school if they display symptoms of COVID-19, as per the HSE website, including fever, cough, shortness of breath, loss of taste or smell. If you display any of these symptoms, you should self-isolate and phone your GP or GP out-of-hours service to arrange for a test.”

Dr Lucy Jessop, Director, National Immunisation Office, said: “In the last ten days, we have seen Ireland’s COVID-19 Vaccination Programme move into the community. Many of us know family and friends who are among the almost 360,000 people to have been vaccinated in recent weeks. This is cause for great hope for all of us.”

“The vaccine is already having a significant impact on our healthcare workers. In the last week in January, almost 1,400 healthcare workers contracted COVID-19; that number was less than 300 last week. This is wonderful news and clearly demonstrates the early impact the vaccination programme is having.”

“However, even if you have received your COVID-19 vaccine, you must continue to wash your hands, wear a face covering, maintain a social distance and keep your close contacts to a minimum.”

Professor Philip Nolan, Chair of the NPHET Irish Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group, said: “We are making continued and significant progress, albeit more slowly. The reproduction number remains below 1, between 0.6 and 0.9, which is a real achievement given the higher transmissibility of the B.1.1.7 variant, which accounts for 90% of cases. Our collective efforts to suppress transmission of the virus and bring the disease to manageable levels are having a positive impact. If we continue to work together, we can keep each other safe as the vaccination programme offers wider protection.”

Dr Cillian De Gascun, Medical Virologist and Director of the National Virus Reference Laboratory said: “New variants of concern will continue to emerge as COVID-19 adapts to us. This highlights the importance of Ireland’s National Surveillance programme. This week, we will be sequencing 15% of cases at the NVRL.”

The COVID-19 Dashboard provides up-to-date information on the key indicators of COVID-19 in the community including daily data on Ireland’s COVID-19 Vaccination Programme.

ENDS//

*Validation of data at the HPSC has resulted in the denotification of 5 confirmed cases. The figure of 217,478 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.

Today’s cases, 5-day moving average of new cases, 14-day incidence rate per 100,000 population and new cases in last 14 days (as of midnight 21 February 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.

• 7 day incidence is 102.3
• 5-day moving average is 625

Galway Bay fm newsroom – A poster campaign in Gort is highlighting local opposition to a proposed Biogas plant in the town.

The plan is led by Sustainable Bio-Energy Limited and would be located in the townlands of Ballynamantan, Kinincha and Glenbrack.

County planners refused permission for the project last January and an appeal is currently with An Bord Pleanala.

Campaigner say they have no problem with a biogas plant in principle, but claim the location is wrong for the development.

Their latest move is an ongoing poster campaign throughout the town, which employs slogans and artwork to highlight their opposition.

Galway Bay fm newsroom – A Galway West TD has accused the Children’s Minister of using “weasel words” during a Dáil debate on the Mother and Baby Home Commission.

Deputy Catherine Connolly made the comments after a motion was introduced, calling for the commission to be extended.

She accused Minister Roderic O’ Gorman of using “weasel words” in stating he would not oppose the motion, while failing to give any clarity on what he actually proposed to do.

Deputy Connolly argued the people who went forward and took their courage in their hands to tell their stories deserve much more than that.

She said she was not reassured by Minister O’ Gorman, and felt something was “very wrong” in his department.

Deputy Connolly said Minister O’ Gorman is not leading, and accused him of using the same “weasel words” as used in the commission’s report on Mother and Baby Homes.

Deputy Connolly said the Minister needs to take charge and give commitments on what happens next: