Galway Bay fm newsroom – Galway County Council has been criticised in the Dáil for an alleged lack of urgency in addressing its historic links with the Tuam mother and baby home.

It’s as the local authority is due to discuss the issue at its plenary meeting on Monday and issue a statement.

Previously, the council said it was important to take time to read and consider the final report, while affording all those with a personal connection to the former home a similar opportunity.

However, Junior Minister and Galway East TD Anne Rabbitte told the Dáil she was ‘horrified’ to see the matter was way down the list of items on Monday’s agenda.

Addressing the Dáil, Fianna Fail Deputy Anne Rabbitte says the level of priority being given to the matter is unacceptable.

Galway Bay fm newsroom – The Health Protection Surveillance Centre has today been notified of 52 additional deaths related to COVID-19.

50* of these deaths occurred in January.

The median age of those who died is 82 years and the age range is 39-99 years.

There has been a total of 2,870 COVID-19 related deaths in Ireland.

As of midnight, Thursday 21st January, the HPSC has been notified of 2,371 confirmed cases of COVID-19. There is now a total of 184,279** confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ireland. 

Of the cases notified today:

• 1,129 are men / 1,194 are women
• 57% are under 45 years of age
• The median age is 40 years old
• 757 in Dublin, 237 in Cork, 154 in Waterford, 123 in Wexford, 114 in Louth, and the remaining 986 cases are spread across all other counties***. 

As of 2pm today, 1,931 COVID-19 patients are hospitalised, of which 219 are in ICU. 78 additional hospitalisations in the past 24 hours.

Dr Tony Holohan, Chief Medical Officer said: “We know that the ongoing restrictions are very challenging for people but, through the hard work and sacrifice of the vast majority of people, we are starting to see the first signs of a lower prevalence of the disease in the population. Strictly adhering to the public health measures is the key to making real progress in terms of flattening the curve and lowering the current trends in our hospitals and ICUs.

“The ‘COVID-19 find-test-trace-isolate’ process is vital to our efforts. Our data is telling us that for a third of people, it’s 4 days or more from the time they first experience symptoms of COVID-19 to the time they get tested. We all need to contact our GP as soon as symptoms occur, so we can trace our contacts and prevent further infections.

“This weekend, we need everyone to stay the course with hand washing, covering coughs, wearing face coverings and keeping a 2m distance. In order to take care of each other, we need all to stay at home, except for essential reasons, to minimise the spread of COVID-19 to ourselves and our loved ones.”

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

ENDS//

*There are 2 deaths where the date of death is under investigation.

**Validation of data at the HPSC has resulted in the denotification of 14 confirmed cases. The figure of 184,279 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.

Today’s cases, 14-day incidence rate per 100,000 population and new cases in last 14 days (as of midnight 21 January 2021) (incidence rate based on Census 2016 county population)

7-day incidence 372.6

5-day moving average 2,315

Galway Bay fm newsroom – A plan has been approved for a medical centre at Briarhill Shopping Centre in Ballybrit.

The project is led by MyNedical Urgent Care Ltd. and will involve a change of use of around 400 square metres of existing gym space.

City planners have attached seven conditions.

One states a car parking management plan for the medical centre is to be submitted prior to occupation of the building.