Galway Bay fm newsroom – The Health Protection Surveillance Centre has today been notified of 50 additional deaths related to COVID-19.

All of these 50 deaths occurred in January 2021. The median age of those who died was 82 years, and the age range was 45-96 years. There was no newly reported death in healthcare workers. There was no newly reported death in a young person under the age of 30.

There has been a total of 2,536 COVID-19 related deaths in Ireland.

As of midnight, Thursday 14th January, the HPSC has been notified of 3,498 confirmed cases of COVID-19. There is now a total of 166,548 * confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ireland. 

Of the cases notified today:

• 1,576 are men / 1,906 are women
• 54% are under 45 years of age
• The median age is 42 years old
• 1,182 are in Dublin, 421 in Cork, 258 in Limerick, 187 in Galway, 164 in Waterford, and the remaining 1,286 cases are spread across all other counties.

As of 2pm today, 1,850 COVID-19 patients are hospitalised of which184 are in ICU. 118 additional hospitalisations in the past 24 hours.

Dr Tony Holohan, Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health said: “New variants of COVID-19 have recently been identified in Brazil, and in travellers to Japan from Brazil. There is no evidence of these variants in Ireland.”

“Anyone who has travelled from Brazil in the last 14 days is advised to self-isolate for 14 days, from the date of arrival, and identify themselves, through a GP, for testing as soon as possible.”

“It is essential that anyone arriving from Brazil self-isolate for 14 days from the date of arrival before entering/re-entering the workplace. We are particularly appealing to employers to enable their employees to protect each other by staying at home for the full 14 days.”

“Further risk assessment of the new variants is expected from the ECDC in the coming week. We must all continue to adhere to every element of the public health advice. This remains our best defence against COVID-19.”

Dr Ronan Glynn, Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health said: “We have worked exceptionally hard in recent weeks to reduce our close contacts. At the end of December, the number of close contacts per confirmed case peaked at approximately 6. That has now dropped to 2.3 contacts. This enormous effort is the reason we are seeing case numbers beginning to fall.” 

“We know that it is extremely difficult to keep our close contacts to a minimum, particularly over an extended period of time. But this is the main way we can protect ourselves and our loved ones from COVID-19. Again today, we are reporting the highest number of people with COVID-19 to date in our hospitals. We must stay home to protect ourselves and each other.”

The COVID-19 Dashboard provides up-to-date information on the key indicators of COVID-19 in the community. As of yesterday, the dashboard includes information on Total Vaccines Administered (1st Dose).

ENDS//

*Validation of data at the HPSC has resulted in the denotification of 7 confirmed cases. The figure of 166,548 confirmed cases reflects this.

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

The 7 day incidence rate is 644.7

The 5 day moving average is 3,804

The first doses will be administered tomorrow at mass vaccination centres in three locations – Galway, Dublin and Portlaoise

They will be used to vaccinate GP teams

Health Minister Stephen Donnelly has described the development as another important step on our vaccination journey.

He revealed the information in a tweet this afternoon.

Galway Bay fm news is currently awaiting confirmation from the HSE as to the location of the Galway centre.

Most General Practice teams could be vaccinated against covid 19 in a matter of weeks, according to a leading expert.

Assistant Professor for General Practice at TCD, Brendan O’ Shea says the situation is developing quickly.

This news comes after the HSE announced the period between the first and second doses of the Pfizer vaccine is being extended from 21 to 28 days.

Kevin Connolly is former chair of the National Immunisation Advisory Committee.

He says the Pfizer vaccine is as effective when the second dose is added after 28 days

That will take effect for those receiving the jab for the first time from Monday and is aimed at vaccinating more people as new supplies arrive.

Meanwhile, it’s emerged Pfizer Bio-N-Tech may be slowing down production of its Covid-19 vaccine.

It is unclear whether this will affect Ireland’s allocation of doses.

It comes as the HSE plans to give a second dose of the vaccine 28 days after the first, instead of 21 days which it says follows recommendations from the World Health Organisation and the National Immunisation Advisory Committee.

Meanwhile, Pfizer is to reduce its production of Covid-19 vaccines on a temporary basis – which will affect shipments to Europe later this month.

The company says it’s so production capacity can be scaled up to 2 billion doses by the end of the year.

It’s not yet known the effect of this on Ireland’s supply.

Galway Bay fm newsroom – The average age of confirmed Covid-19 cases in Galway remains the lowest nationwide.

According to new figures from the CSO, the average age now stands at 31 – the lowest in the country, followed by Sligo at 33 and Kerry at 35.

However, the age profile has increased significantly in recent weeks.

Shortly before Christmas, the average age of confirmed cases in Galway was just 26.

The latest figures show that Galway has an incidence rate of 1,094 per 100 thousand – and recorded 2,822 new cases over the past 14 days.

Director of Public Health for the West, Dr. Breeda Smyth, says with hospitals under pressure, we all have to play our part in halting the spread of Covid-19.