Galway Bay fm newsroom – The Knocknacarra winner of the Lotto Match 5 + Bonus from the 12th of December has come forward to claim their prize, just two weeks before the claim deadline.

The winning ticket, which is worth 46 thousand euro, was sold at Clybaun Stores on the Clybaun Road on the day of the draw, one of two winners of the Lotto Match 5 + Bonus prize of 92 thousand euro.

A spokesperson for the National Lottery say we are now making arrangements for the lucky winner to make their claim in the coming days.

Meanwhile, the Lotto jackpot for tomorrow night (27th February) will roll to an estimated €5.5 million.

Galway Bay fm newsroom – The Health Protection Surveillance Centre has today been notified of 29 additional deaths related to COVID-19.

17 of these deaths occurred in February, and 12 occurred in January.

The median age of those who died was 77 years and the age range was 29 – 95 years.

There has been a total of 4,300 COVID-19 related deaths in Ireland.

As of midnight, Thursday 25th February, the HPSC has been notified of 776 confirmed cases of COVID-19. There is now a total of 218,251* confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ireland. 

Of the cases notified today:

• 394 are men / 379 are women
• 67% are under 45 years of age
• The median age is 34 years old
• 278 in Dublin, 69 in Galway, 57 in Meath, 52 in Kildare, 48 in Donegal and the remaining 272 cases are spread across all other counties. **

As of 8am today, 574 COVID-19 patients are hospitalised, of which 136 are in ICU. 24 additional hospitalisations in the past 24 hours.

As of February 23, 373,280 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in Ireland:

• 238,841 people have received their first dose
• 134,439 people have received their second dose

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 3 confirmed cases. The figure of 218,251 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 days (as of midnight 25 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 102.6
• 5-day moving average is 644

Galway Bay fm newsroom – The HSE has confirmed that progress is being made on the development of the Old Grove Hospital site in Tuam.

At this week’s meeting of the Health Forum West, it was revealed that tenders are currently being assessed, with a report to be finalised this week.

In response to a query from Councillor Donagh Killilea, it was confirmed that the project has been prioritised by the HSE and an allowance has been made in the HSE capital plan to award the contract and progress the works this year.

Galway County Council granted planning permission for the project at Vicar Street in 2017, which will involve the part-demolition, refurbishment and remodelling of the building in two phases.

Phase one will incorporate mental health and shared services while phase two would accommodate early intervention and disability services.