Covid-19: Death toll in Ireland passes 2,000 mark

Earlier today, the public were told that the Government will announce details towards the end of next week for the lifting of Level 5 restrictions and the reopening of the retail sector.

Ireland has reached an unwanted milestone with 12 new deaths from Covid-19 meaning 2,006 people have now lost their lives as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Health Protection Surveillance Centre was also notified of 379 new confirmed cases of Covid-19, meaning a total of 69,058 confirmed cases of the virus have been detected here.

The latest data also shows that as of 2pm on Wednesday 282 Covid-19 patients are hospitalised, of which 33 are in ICU. There had been 22 additional hospitalisations in the past 24 hours.

Commenting on the latest figures, Dr Tony Holohan, Chief Medical Officer with the Department of Health, said: “Today we sadly report over 2,000 deaths associated with Covid-19 to date in this country. 

This pandemic has impacted, directly and indirectly, on families and communities all across Ireland.

Co Donegal still has the highest 14-day incidence rate of the virus, ahead of Limerick and Louth. Co Wexford currently has the lowest fortnightly incidence rate.

With pressure to end level 5 restrictions on December 1 increasing, Dr Holohan said everyone needed to continue to take all measures to suppress the spread of the virus.

“It is important that we continue to work together if we are to suppress this virus and protect as many people as possible. 

"For the next two weeks, work from home, stay at home and follow public health advice,” he said.

In a positive development in the battle against the virus, Pfizer and BioNTech said their vaccine has now passed phase three of trials. Latest results show the vaccine shot had a 95% success rate and Pfizer said its tests showed it also protected older people most at risk of dying.

The company said it would be applying for approval from US and EU authorities within days.

Meanwhile, University Hospital Limerick (UHL) has implemented self-administered temperature checks for staff after an agency worker who had been working on three separate wards tested positive for Covid-19.

The new protocol was implemented last week and sees staff taking their own temperature before embarking on their shift. It is then up to the individual staff member to note what that temperature is.

UHL is currently employing a higher percentage of agency staff than normal due to the large numbers of contract employees in isolation on the back of either confirmed cases of the virus, or having been deemed to be close contacts.

Some 221 people are now absent from work across the six facilities of the University of Limerick Hospital Group due to ongoing Covid outbreaks, the majority of them at UHL.

The female agency staff member in question had worked at the hospital for two days in recent weeks, before being too ill to report for duty for a third day.

The hospital said that the new temperature checks were implemented “as a result of the ongoing outbreaks” A spokesperson said that thermal imaging technology has been used for automated temperature checks since the first wave of Covid-19, with two detection checkpoints “installed at the two areas of highest staff and patient footfall in the hospital”.

Earlier today, the public were told that the Government will announce details towards the end of next week for the lifting of Level 5 restrictions and the reopening of the retail sector.

Minister of State for Employment Affairs and Retail Businesses, Damien English told RTÉ radio’s News at One that plans will be announced when it was appropriate after Nphet and other experts have had time to analyse data from the first four weeks of Level 5 restrictions.

Meanwhile in the North, a further 11 people with Covid-19 have died in Northern Ireland, the Department of Health has said.

The death toll recorded by the department now stands at 889.

There were also another 518 confirmed cases of the virus recorded in the last 24-hour reporting period.

A total of 48,229 people have tested positive for Covid-19 in Northern Ireland since the pandemic began.