Drop in number of Covid-19 outbreaks recorded last week

There was a drop in the number of new Covid-19 outbreaks recorded last week, with nursing homes accounting for a third of the outbreaks of the virus, according to latest figures.

There were 133 new outbreaks of Covid-19 notified in the week ending April 9th, the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) has said.

Some 45 of the outbreaks notified were in nursing homes and a further 48 outbreaks were in other residential institutions, around half of which were residential centres for people with disabilities.

Twelve outbreaks were recorded in acute hospitals, and 11 new outbreaks of Covid-19 were notified in community hospitals and long-stay units.

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The weekly HPSC report noted three outbreaks had been linked to schools, and three to private homes. There was also a large outbreak in a prison which accounted for 99 associated cases.

The overall number of outbreaks recorded last week fell by 38 from 171 the previous week, and 197 outbreaks notified in the fourth week of March.

The number of outbreaks notified last week fell in nursing homes, hospitals and other residential care facilities. More than a third of the outbreaks, 42 in total, were located in the east of the country, the report said.

In one nursing home outbreak there were 27 confirmed cases, while the largest outbreak in a hospital was a cluster of 15 new cases.

The HPSC recorded four outbreaks of Covid-19 among the Travelling community, and one outbreak in a direct provision centre.

Separately, the Department of Health has been notified of 2,098 new cases of Covid-19 confirmed by PCR testing on Wednesday.

There was a further 2,630 people who registered positive antigen tests through a Health Service Executive online portal on Tuesday.

Some 933 people were in acute hospitals with Covid-19 as of 8am on Wednesday, with 58 of those patients in intensive care.