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A further 94 deaths of Covid-19 patients have been reported by the National Public Health Emergency Team. This brings to 3,512 the total number of deaths in the pandemic.
Nphet said 47 of the deaths occurred in February, 44 in January, two in December and one in November.
Those who died ranged in age from 36 to 100 years and the median age is 82.
Hospital Report
Nphet also reported 1,013 confirmed cases of the disease, bringing to 199,430 the total number of cases in the Republic.
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Of the new cases, 337 are in Dublin, 96 in Galway, 65 in Cork, 60 in Kildare, and 48 in Louth, with the remaining 407 cases spread across all other counties.
The median age is 41 years old and 56 per cent are under 45 years of age.
The 14-day incidence of the disease now stands at 424 cases per 100,000 people nationally. Monaghan has the highest county incidence, followed by Louth. Roscommon had the lowest incidence.
On Wednesday afternoon, there were 1,334 Covid-19 patients in hospital, down 54 on the previous day. This included 203 patients in ICU, down four. There were 66 additional hospitalisations in the previous 24 hours.
Evaluation of data by the Health Protection Surveillance Centre has seen seven previously confirmed cases denotified, which is reflected in the total number of cases reported on Wednesday.
Chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan said: "At the outset of this pandemic, as a global community we knew much less about Covid-19 than we do now. We did not know then that today we would have a portfolio of approved vaccines to mitigate the worst effects of Covid-19, adding to our toolkit of public health measures such as social distancing, reducing contacts, mask-wearing, cough/sneeze hygiene and washing our hands.
“Now more than ever, as we are continuing to see the tragic effects of the recent surge of Covid-19 infection in the form of mortality, hospitalisation and ICU admission, we should remember the public health advice that has carried us so far in this pandemic, and helped us to suppress Covid-19 together successfully in the past.
“It is the collective hard work and ongoing sacrifice of people across Ireland in following these public health measures that will keep us all safe at this time, as we look ahead to the increased rollout of the Covid-19 vaccine on the horizon. Keep it up, and encourage others to do the same. In short: the present is the time to protect yourself and stay safe, in order to receive your vaccine in the future.”
‘Not totally unexpected’
The president of the Intensive Care Society of Ireland, Dr Colman O’Loughlin said “things turned out significantly worse than we anticipated”.
He told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland earlier on Wednesday about the problems experienced by the health system in recent weeks.
The increase in Covid-19 cases following Christmas caused stress for the hospital system, he said. Covid-19 was “a preventable disease”, if everyone had “held the line” the numbers would be far less.
Examining what had happened over Christmas was for the future, but it could not be allowed to happen again, he warned.
The number of deaths reported on Tuesday had been “very sobering, but not totally unexpected”.
A further 101 deaths of Covid-19 patients were reported by Nphet on Tuesday, the highest daily figure recorded during the pandemic. The deaths included that of a 19-year-old, one of the youngest victims of Covid-19. There have now been 3,418 Covid-19 deaths in total in the Republic.
Nphet also reported 879 confirmed cases of the disease.
Dr O’Loughlin said there was now a pattern of sicker patients coming into ICU and staying longer. The average length of stay in the last wave had been 10 to 14 days, but it was longer this time, and the degree of lung injury was more severe.
Dr O’Loughlin said it was a different pattern of disease and far more challenging, but there was not data available to tell if new variants of the virus were responsible for this.
On Tuesday evening, Dr Holohan said the high mortality we are experiencing as a country at the moment was related to the surge of infection of several weeks ago, with hospitalisations and admissions to ICU following as a direct result.
“Although we have seen great improvement in the level of infection being reported, we have a long way to go and incidence needs to decline much further,” he said.
“The best way to honour those who have died from Covid-19, and those who loved them or provided care for them, is to follow the public health advice. Stay at home unless absolutely necessary, and encourage your friends, family and colleagues to do the same.”