People with Covid symptoms advised to contact GP and not 'wait and see'
Dr Holohan: "Do not leave your house or go to work if you have any cold or flu-like symptoms at all." Picture: Sam Boal / RollingNews.ie
Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Dr Tony Holohan has said "old habits" need to be broken in order to reduce the spread of the virus further.
"We know that people who feel unwell typically avoid calling their GP over the weekend, and wait to see if they improve.
"You should no longer do that – you must phone your GP at the first sign of anything like Covid-19 symptoms. Do not adopt a ‘wait and see’ approach'," said the CMO.
A further 55 Covid-related deaths were reported on Saturday by the Department of Health.
Of these deaths, 36 occurred in February, 18 of these occurred in January, and the date of one death remains under investigation.
The median age of those who died is 86, with the youngest fatality aged 49 and the oldest aged 100.
This brings the total number of fatalities from the virus to 3,674.
In addition, 827 cases of coronavirus have been confirmed by health officials.
Since the outbreak began in Ireland, 202,548 cases of the virus have been recorded.
Dr Holohan also urged the public not to leave their home or attend work if they have any flu-like symptoms.
“Similarly, do not leave your house or go to work if you have any cold or flu-like symptoms at all.
"Breaking these habits will limit Covid-19’s opportunity to spread from person to person," he said.
Case data released by the Department of Health shows:
- 409 cases are men and 416 cases are women
- 63% of cases are under 45 years of age
- The median age of confirmed cases is 38 years old
Dublin reported the most cases at 297 while 76 cases were confirmed in Cork. Galway reported 56 cases and 46 cases were identified in Wexford.
In Kildare, 37 cases of the virus were recorded while the remaining 315 cases are spread across all other counties.
From 2pm today, 1,177 patients have been hospitalised with Covid-19 with 177 people in intensive care.
55 people have been admitted to hospital for treatment for the virus in the last 24 hours while 96 patients have been discharged.
The national 14-day incidence rate stands at 345.6.
The latest case data released from the Department of Health comes as the Minister of Health, Stephen Donnelly, has played down recent setbacks of vaccine rollout due to supply changes.
Mr Donnelly said the Covid-19 vaccination programme will proceed “largely as planned” despite the restricted use of the AstraZeneca vaccine to people under 70.
The Health Minister welcomed the arrival this afternoon of the first doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine in Ireland.
Data from the Department of Health, valid until February 3, shows 152,200 people have received the first dose of a coronavirus vaccine, with 67,000 people receiving two doses.
The Government has decided to only vaccinate those in the vulnerable over-70s group with Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna vaccines after being advised that AstraZeneca could be less effective in older people, due to lack of data on the effectiveness for that age cohort.
The decision comes as Johnson & Johnson filed an application with the US Food and Drug Administration this week for approval of its Janssen single-dose vaccine, with an expectation that the pharma giant will also seek approval from the European Medicines Agency (EMA) soon after.
Meanwhile, a new vaccine roll-out deal agreed on Friday for almost half a million elderly patients will see most get their shots in a local GP practice, but some rural patients will face longer journeys.
Elderly patients attending small practices with fewer than 200 over-70s will need to travel to the closest larger practice, or attend a vaccination centre in an agreed city.
This affects patients at about 400 practices, and the deal suggests Cork, Galway and Dublin for vaccination centres.
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