Covid-19: The best and worst local areas – 14 now 'virus free'

Grangegorman Primary Care Centre, one of the five new walk-in Covid-19 testing centres which opened this week. Picture: Leon Farrell / Photocall Ireland

Tullamore in Co Offaly continues to have the highest Covid-19 infection rate in the country, as the number of virus-free areas grew to 14 over the past week.

The top 10 Covid-19 hotspots feature parts of Offaly and Dublin, where the HSE opened walk-in test centres this week in a bid to stem the spread of the virus.

The latest Covid-19 local electoral area (LEA) data shows increases in Tullamore and Edenderry in Offaly and in Balbriggan, Ballymun-Finglas, Tallaght South, and Ongar in Dublin, as well as in Roscrea-Templemore in Tipperary, and Buncrana in Donegal.

The infection rate in Tullamore increased sharply to 754.5 cases per 100,000 population over the past week – almost five times the national rate, which stood at 158.3 cases per 100,000 population on Monday last, March 22.

Top 10 Covid-19 hotspots

Navan in Meath and Longford town continue to feature in the top 10 Covid-19 hotspots, although they showed a fall in infection levels.

While there are concerns that Covid-19 is spreading across the country, the number of areas reporting fewer than five cases in the past fortnight grew to 14, with several new areas achieving this virus-free status but others losing it.

Kilrush and Killaloe in Clare, Castleisland in Kerry, Westport and Belmullet in Mayo, and Glenties in Donegal joined the virus-free ranks this week, while Bantry, Wexford town, and Ennistymon in Clare lost this status following a rise in new cases.

Other virus-free areas include Skibbereen and the Macroom area in Cork, Kenmare in Kerry, Lismore in Waterford, Connemara north and south areas in Galway, and Ballinamore and Manorhamilton in Leitrim.

In Munster, the Roscrea-Templemore area of Tipperary had the highest infection rate at 409.8 cases per 100,000 population.