Revealed: The full impact of Covid-19 on society and the economy

A snapshot of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic has been produced by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) showing the scale of virus-related deaths and the extent of the social and economic fallout.

Ahead of the second anniversary of the State’s first confirmed coronavirus case, the CSO publication said there have been more than 6,200 Covid-related deaths, with more than 1,000 of these occurring in January 2021 during the third and worst wave of the pandemic.

Statistics show the pandemic affected older people the most, with nine in every 10 people who died from Covid-19 aged 65 years and older. This age group also accounted for 50 per cent of those who were hospitalised from the start of the pandemic until the end of last year.

Men accounted for 52 per cent of those hospitalised and 63 per cent of admissions to hospital intensive care units.

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"Covid-19 affected every aspect of life in Ireland and the ripple effect of the virus is still being felt and measured two years on," said the CSO on the release of Covid-19: Two Years On.

Savings

Households saved €54 billion from January 2020 until the end of last September, compared with €20.8 billion in the same period before the pandemic.

The monthly unemployment rate stood at 7.8 per cent last month if all claimants on the pandemic unemployment payment (PUP) were classified as unemployed - up from 7.4 per cent last December and down from 27.1 per cent in January of last year.

The latest figures on PUP show there were 410,551 fewer people in receipt of it at the end of last month than in January of last year.

A labour force survey in the final three months of last year showed the number of people aged between 15 and 89 in work increased by 229,200 or 10.1 per cent to 2.5 million in the year to the end of December, exceeding 2.5 million people for the first time since the survey began in 1998.

Employment increased across most sectors with the largest rate of increase being recorded in the accommodation and food service as hospitality reopened with the lifting of restrictions. There was an increase of almost 30 per cent in employment in this sector (some 37,100 people).

The Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme accounted for more than half the total earnings in the accommodation and food services sector and almost 23 per cent in the arts, entertainment, recreation and other services activities sector. Social protection expenditure rose by 20 per cent to €58.2 billion.

Remote working

A CSO survey on remote working found 88 per cent of people who can work remotely would like to continue doing so once all restrictions are removed.

It also found that about 30 per cent of those in jobs whose work could not be done remotely in their current employment would be attracted to a new job where they could.

Residential property prices rose 14.4 per cent nationally last year.

Crime statistics for the period to last autumn found there had been a 72 per cent increase in frauds with more than 13,500 recorded in a 13-month period. This was largely driven by unauthorised transactions and attempts to obtain personal or banking information online or by phone.

Most other types of crime declined compared with the previous year such as burglary (down by 36 per cent), theft (down by 20 per cent) and robbery (down by 18 per cent).

Traffic volumes

Data for January shows that car traffic volumes in Dublin increased by 19.6 per cent over the month as restrictions were eased, while bus and rail journeys showed similar increases.

Almost three-quarters of those who worked remotely felt they had more time on their hands, because of remote work, to do things they never got the chance to do before the pandemic.

Meanwhile, the Health Protection Surveillance Centre has been notified of 4,158 PCR-confirmed cases of Covid-19, with a further 3,900 positive antigen test logged on the HSE’s online portal.

There were 593 patients with the disease in hospital on Tuesday morning, down 15 in 24 hours, including 54 in intensive care (unchanged).