A total of 922 new cases of Covid-19 and eight coronavirus-related deaths have been reported by the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) on Thursday.
It brings to 83,073 the total of cases of the infection and 2,192 the number of Covid-19-related deaths reported so far in 2020.
Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan said the Republic of Ireland now had the fastest growing incidence rate in the European Union. "Unfortunately, none of the indicators of this disease are showing encouraging signs," he said.
Of the 922 new cases reported on Thursday, 438 were men and 477 were women. The median age of positive cases was 33, with 68 per cent of the cases under 45 years of age.
Some 337 cases, more than a third of the daily total, were located in Dublin. This was followed by 73 in Cork, 70 in Limerick, 56 in Wexford and 43 in Galway. The remaining 343 cases were spread across all other counties.
There were 255 patients with Covid-19 in hospital as of 8am on Thursday, with 37 admissions in the past 24 hours. Twenty-two Covid-19 patients are currently in intensive care.
“This Christmas, the best present you can give your loved ones is to strictly adhere to the public health advice,” Dr Holohan said.
“Make your Christmas safe, meaningful and memorable for the right reasons. Stay home, stay safe and stay well. Limit contact as much as you can and ensure you and your loved ones have a happy and safe Christmas,” he said.
Cillian De Gascun, director of the National Virus Reference Laboratory, also on Thursday said whole genome sequencing had confirmed the highly transmissible UK Covid-19 variant was now present in Ireland.
“Samples tested were from last weekend, so acquisition of infection likely around December 12th-14th,” he said on Twitter.
During the previous six-week lockdown, Ireland had one of the lowest rates of the virus in the EU, but recent weeks have seen a sharp increase in cases, which led the Government to reintroduce Level 5 restrictions in recent days.
The Government looks set to reject a request from public health officials to shut non-essential retail from St Stephen’s Day, as part of a move to Level 5 lockdown for six weeks in a bid to control the “frightening” spread of Covid-19 in the State.
Government sources confirmed that the recommendation to shut retail had been made in a letter sent by Nphet following its meeting on Wednesday.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney has said the Cabinet would consider Nphet's advice when it meets on December 29th.
Non-essential retail
The data to date had shown that non-essential retail was not affecting the spread of the virus, said Mr Coveney, but the Cabinet would consider Nphet's advice, he told RTÉ Radio's Morning Ireland.
Mr Coveney went on to reject a suggestion that the decision to relax restrictions at the start of December had been a mistake.
He said evidence and data on the virus changed all the time and the easing at the start of the month had been made in the context of advice from Nphet.
Under published Level 5 plans from the Government, a move to full Level 5 restrictions as recommended by Nphet would rule out visits to private homes or gardens from Saturday, but this was due to be the case a week later, on January 1st.
The Government decided on Tuesday to keep non-essential retail open after Christmas, although the traditional post-Christmas sales will not proceed.
Under new restrictions agreed by the Cabinet, the hospitality sector will close at 3pm today.
It comes as preliminary data showed the presence of the new UK variant of coronavirus in the State, Dr Cillian de Gascun of the National Virus Reference Laboratory said.
Prof de Gascun said the variant may be present in about 10 per cent of swabs analysed, but that this needed further validation.
However, senior members of Nphet said on Wednesday night they did not believe the UK variant is currently substantially driving infection here.
Dr Holohan said that since restrictions were changed at the beginning of December, “the level of social contact that has happened, in particular around hospitality, has led to a very significant increase in the transmission of this infection.”
Despite the presence of the UK variant, he said: “We don’t think that’s been an important part of transmission in this country – we’ve seen a significant amount of social engagement that can explain this extent of really worrying numbers.”
Dr de Gascun said the results suggested the variant is likely concentrated in the east of the country.
“Given the timing, it probably wouldn’t in and of itself account for the significant increase in case numbers that we found,” he said. He estimated that the UK variant had been in the country since the second week of December, at least, and may have been introduced in late November.
Dr Holohan said “every form of discretionary socialisation really has to stop if we’re to have a chance of suppressing this kind of level of transmission”. He said there was a “clear temporal association” between the opening of hospitality and a very significant increase in the spread of the disease.
‘Very rapid acceleration’
Prof Nolan said the relaxation of December 1st caused an increase in cases, but the relaxation of restrictions on hospitality "coincides with a very rapid acceleration in the level of disease".
Asked why data does not reflect outbreaks in hospitality settings, Dr Ronan Glynn, the deputy chief medical officer, said that of 7,000 cases in the last fortnight, the source of infection was unknown in 3,000 cases. The briefing heard that instances of transmission that occurred in hospitality settings are likely to be recorded sometimes as being managed in family homes, due to how contact tracing takes place.
Dr Holohan said: “We now have a level of disease in the population that’s simply not in control, we have to re-establish control of this infection, drive down the levels if we’re going to continue to assure ourselves that we can maintain these essential public services.”
Dr Colm Henry, HSE chief clinical officer, said recent days had seen "extraordinary growth in infection beyond what our extreme versions of modelling would have predicted".
"We are deteriorating at a more rapid pace, in seven days, than any other country in Europe, " he said. The rate at which the virus was spreading had reached a "frightening level".
