20 Covid-related deaths as secondary schools to re-open fully next month
Members of the Defence Forces escort passengers from high risk countries to their bus outside Terminal 2 in Dublin Airport. Picture: Leah Farrell / RollingNews.ie
Twenty additional Covid-related deaths have been confirmed this evening as a date has been confirmed for secondary students to return to school.
Of the deaths reported this evening, 11 occurred this month while three were in February and six in January.
The Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) also reported 584 confirmed cases of Covid-19.
The youngest person to lose their life with the virus was 57 and the oldest was 91 years old.
Of the 584 cases reported today, the majority of the cases are located in Dublin with the capital accounting for 222 cases. There are 44 confirmed cases in Kildare, 33 in Offaly, 31 in Meath and 29 in Westmeath.
The remaining 225 cases are spread across 19 other counties.
For the 11th consecutive day, Offaly has the highest incidence rate in the county at 451.5.
The 14-day incidence rate per 100,000 has been steadily rising in the Offaly for the past nine days. The county has recorded 352 confirmed cases of the virus in the past two weeks.
The county with the second highest incidence rate is Donegal at 262.2 while the national incidence rate currently stands at 158.1.
Monaghan GP Illona Duffy says today's number of cases is concerning.
"We're really not seeing any reduction in the figures and there seems to be no shock or no real concern amongst the general public," said Dr Duffy.
"It's almost like we've become numb to these figures and we're not seeing anything wrong with the fact that they're not dropping.
As of this morning, there are 317 Covid-19 patients in hospitals around the country, of which 67 are in ICU.
The ICU figure is the lowest since January 3 and eight fewer than yesterday's total.
There have been 25 additional hospitalisations in the past 24 hours.
According to the latest vaccination data, 709,348 doses of Covid-19 vaccination have been administered up to March 23 - 515,800 people have received their first dose while 193,548 have received their second.
It has been confirmed the remaining secondary school students will return to school on April 12.
The Department of Education says 300,000 students will now attend in school classes from that date.
It marks the final phase in the government's plans to fully reopen schools, which have been closed since Christmas.
A Dublin GP says there is no evidence the reopening of schools has caused a rise of Covid cases.
Nphet yesterday reported Covid cases among children have increased by as much as 60% since February.
But Dr Ray Walley says the rise is because far more testing is being carried out.
"Our referral rate has greatly increased in younger children and young adults and there is no evidence that the positivity rate in the school setting has gone up," said Dr Walley.
"Certainly, the cumulative numbers have gone up but not the positivity rate."
The head of a parents group said she hopes society will "do the right thing" and keep schools open. One Family CEO Karen Kiernan says children need to be in the classroom.
Ms Keirnan said that children, parents and teachers desperately want to be back in the classroom and to make it work.
"We are really hoping that the rest of society and everyone will do the right thing so we can keep children in school."
The Health Minister said no private school should have received vaccines from a private hospital.
Stephen Donnelly was responding the Beacon Hospital's decision to give left over vaccines to 20 teachers and staff from St Gerards, a private school in Co Wicklow on Tuesday.
Creche workers at the Beacon were also administered left over vaccines.
Mr Donnelly said this afternoon, "The protocols are crystal clear on having a backup list of people available from the priority cohorts. We are prioritising our most vulnerable right now, as it should be."
The facility has apologised for distributing vaccines outside the HSE's sequencing guidelines.
Chief Clinical Officer of the HSE Dr Colm Henry said the priority list must be adhered to and acknowledged the frustration the public feel when such stories emerge.
Dr Henry said that the guidelines sent out to hospitals and vaccination centres in January made it clear that where there are doses left at the end of a vial, there must be a reserve list ready and that list must adhere to the hierarchy of the vaccine roll-out scheme.
Meanwhile, EU regulators announced today they will allow the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine to be transported and stored in cooler temperatures to speed up its rollout.
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) says vials can be stored at temperatures between -25 to -15 degrees Celsius for a one-off period of two weeks.
It says reducing the need for ultra-low temperature storage throughout the supply chain will allow rapid distribution of the vaccine in the EU.
The EMA has also approved three new manufacturing sites to produce vaccines for AstraZeneca, Moderna and Pfizer.
Over 2,700 Covid fines have been given to people for attending or organising house parties.
Garda figures show almost 17,000 fines have been issued since they were introduced during the pandemic.
Over 12,000 were for non-essential travel, over 700 for journeys to airport or ports and almost 300 were issued for not wearing a face covering.
An Garda Síochána are reminding people that organising or attending house parties is not only a breach of regulations but also a risk to the health of those in attendance and their loved ones.
They said those individuals are putting everyone's health and recovery from the pandemic at risk.
To date, 554 people have been issued a €500 fine for organising a house party while 2,159 have received a €150 fine for attending one.
Ireland's mandatory hotel quarantine regime has come into place.
A total of 37 people are currently booked to arrive into the system over the next six days.
The first passengers to undergo mandatory hotel quarantine in Ireland arrived at The Crown Plaza Hotel in Santry having arrived through Dublin Airport.
A total of 76 people coming from countries deemed high risk have booked using the facilities since they launched on Tuesday.
Those arrivals are due over the space of more than two months. This is a seemingly low number given between February 8 and March 7, 4,172 people from those high-risk countries filled out a passenger locator form to say they would be arriving in Ireland.
The reduced number could be in part due to people not travelling because of mandatory quarantine or that people simply haven't booked their hotel stays yet.
The new measures come as the government is set to consider whether other restrictions can be eased.
The cabinet sub-committee will meet on Monday to decide whether the 5km travel rule can be eased, home construction can re-open, or any other measures can be relaxed.
For the third day in a row there have been no Covid-related deaths in Northern Ireland.
The North's Department of Health figures show 181 people tested positive for the virus in the last 24 hours.
143 patients are being treated in hospital for the disease, with 13 in ICU.
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