Covid-19 hotspots grow: Cork levels approaching Dublin's

Infection rates have also increased significantly in Cork, with rates doubling from 111.2 cases per 100,000 population in Cork City South Central last week to 240.5 cases per 100,000 population this week.

The number of Covid-19 hotspots across the country has grown since last week with close to 40% of local areas having infection rates above the national average.

The latest Local Electoral Area (LEA) data shows that the national 14-day infection rate has increased from 88 cases per 100,000 population last week to 116 cases per 100,000 population this week.

The data is updated weekly on Thursdays and illustrates where the virus is spreading across 166 local electoral areas.

The latest data shows that Donegal is the worst affected county in the country.

In addition to having the highest infection rate nationally at 602.6 cases per 100,000 population in the Lifford/ Stranorlar area, all seven LEAs in the county were above or at the national infection rate.

Nationally, close to 40% of 166 LEAs had a 14-day infection rate above the national average, up from 32% last week.

At the other end of the scale, 8% or 13 LEAs had less than five Covid-19 cases in the two weeks between September 22 to October 5, half of them in Munster.

While infection rates are falling in some local areas they are seeing exponential growth in some counties, such as Longford, Clare, and Roscommon.

The rate in Granard in Longford has more than trebled from 112.4 cases per 100,000 population to 384.1 cases per 100,000 population in the past week.

Kilrush in Clare now has the highest infection rate in Munster, with 290.6 cases per 100,000 population, while the virus has also spread further in Ennis, which has an infection rate of 226.5 cases per 100,000 population.

Infection rates have also increased significantly in Cork, with rates doubling from 111.2 cases per 100,000 population in Cork City South Central last week to 240.5 cases per 100,000 population this week.

The urban area, which has a population of more than 38,000, has the highest rate in the county, followed by Cork City South West on 191.3 cases per 100,000 population and Cork City North East on 173.1 cases per 100,000 population.

On the other hand, the Kanturk and Bantry areas are almost virus-free, with less than five cases detected in the two-week period, ranking them among a small number of areas with the lowest possible infection rate.

The LEA figures come as the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) confirmed on Thursday evening a further 506 cases of Covid-19 and one further death.

A total of 1,817 Covid-19 related deaths have been confirmed to date, while the number of confirmed cases now exceeds 40,000 since the pandemic took hold in March.