'Worrying development': One death and 378 new Covid-19 cases as five-day case count rises

Picture: Leah Farrell/Rollingnews.ie

There has been one more death related to Covid-19, according to the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC).

This brings the death toll in Ireland to 1,979.

The HPSC has been notified of 378 additional confirmed cases of the coronavirus bringing the total number in the Republic to 67,903.

Chief Medical Officer, Dr Tony Holohan said there are a number of things happening at the moment which concern health officials.

"The average daily five-day case count is rising and is now over 400 per day.

"This is a worrying development which has persisted for the last few days. We are seeing a number of things which concern us.

There are examples of small numbers of people congregating for social purposes and simply ignoring the important public health messages. They are putting our collective progress at risk.

Dr Holohan's remarks come after videos appeared on social media over the weekend showing groups of people gathering outside pubs in Dublin's city centre.

The CMO said there have been a number of outbreaks across the country including outbreaks associated with funerals.

"We understand that this is a difficult time for families but it is really important that we do everything we can to avoid the circumstances which promote transmission of the virus.

“There have also been outbreaks associated with workplace settings. As we head into a new working week, we need stay at home other than for essential reasons and for personal exercise within 5km.

"Anyone who can work from home, should work from home.”

Of the 378 cases confirmed today, 63% are under the age of 45 with the average age being 38 years old.

The highest number of cases are in Dublin with 124 cases reported in the capital.

Dublin is followed by Donegal with 34 cases, 23 in Louth, 19 in both Cork and Limerick and the remaining 159 cases are spread across 20 other counties.

As of 2pm on Sunday afternoon, there were 249 Covid-19 patients being treated in hospital with 31 of these in ICU. There have been five hospitalisations in the past 24 hours.

The 14-day incidence rate per 100,000 now stands at 126.9. The first two weeks of November has seen 6,041 new cases reported.

In the North, a further nine people with Covid-19 have died. The death toll in the region now stands at 855.

There were another 472 confirmed cases of the coronavirus.

A total of 46,831 people have tested positive for Covid-19 in Northern Ireland since the pandemic began.

The latest figures mean that there have been 19 deaths and 983 cases of Covid-19 this weekend alone.