Covid situation 'very concerning' as Nphet reports 582 new cases
The 14-day incidence of the disease now stands at 150.8 cases per 100,000 people nationally. Offaly has the highest county incidence, followed by Longford.
Professor Philip Nolan says the Covid-19 situation in Ireland is "very concerning" as a further 582 cases were confirmed this evening.
Professor Nolan, who chairs the National Public Health Emergency Team's modelling group said: "Case counts and some other indicators of the disease are static or plateaued.
"You can quite clearly trace that stasis, that relatively constant case count over the last 10 days to an increase in mobility, congregation and social mixing which began towards the end of February and into early March."
There were, however, no further coronavirus related deaths reported, meaning the number of fatalities stands at 4,566, while the number of positive cases has risen to 228,796.
Professor Nolan said the numbers in hospitals and intensive care continue to decline week on week.
This afternoon, 345 Covid-19 patients were hospitalised, of which 82 were in ICU. An additional 24 hospitalisations occurred in the previous 24 hours.
The R number, which calculates the spread of the virus, has risen to between 0.8 and 1.1
The 14-day incidence of the disease now stands at 150.8 cases per 100,000 people nationally. Offaly has the highest county incidence, followed by Longford.
By March 15, 620,580 doses of coronavirus vaccines had been administered, comprising 455,182 first doses and 165,398 second doses.
The rollout of the AstraZeneca vaccine in Ireland will resume in the next few days, according to the HSE.
The European Medicine's Agency said the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine is “safe and effective” – and its benefits outweigh any risks.
The temporary suspension led to around 30,000 healthcare workers and medically vulnerable people having their appointments delayed.
HSE Chief Clinical Officer Colm Henry says they are concerned about some vaccine hesitancy as the jab starts to be used again He said: "We see huge benefits in terms of serious illness hospitalisations, including among older people, and even after the first dose for all vaccines including AstraZeneca.
"It's important for us to communicate a sense of perspective over this signal which involved a very small number of people with a very unusual and rare side effect."
Of the new cases, 156 are in Dublin, 23 in Meath, 19 in Donegal, 15 in Louth, 14 in Kildare and the remaining 198 cases are spread across 20 other counties.
Of the cases notified today, 290 are men and 291 are female. 74% are under 45 years of age, and the median age is 32 years old.
Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Ronan Glynn told the weekly Nphet press conference that the National Immunisation Advisory Committee is meeting with counterparts across Europe following the statement by the EMA on the AstraZeneca.
Dr Glynn said: “They’ll be considering it further this evening and tomorrow morning, and the HPRA (Health Products Regulatory Authority) are reviewing the statement and the findings.”
“We’ll be deliberating between the organisations tonight and tomorrow morning, and we’ll issue an update tomorrow once we have come to a position.”
However, the European regulator said it “cannot rule out definitively” a link between “a small number of cases of rare and unusual but very serious blood clotting disorders” and the vaccine, though investigations were ongoing.
The decline in Covid-19 case numbers is slowing but more mass vaccination centres are due to open next week, a HSE briefing has heard.
Paul Reid, HSE chief executive, said there has been a “significant easing” of pressure on hospitals in recent weeks but added: “The rate of decrease of patients in hospitals with Covid has slowed, it has actually stalled”.
Mr Reid warned the daily case numbers are not dropping as quickly as they were in February.
He blamed “extra mobility” and an increase in household contacts for this.
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