People with underlying health condition accounted for most of recent Covid deaths

Of the 238 people hospitalised last week, 12 were admitted to intensive care units (ICUs). File Picture: PA

More than two-thirds of the Covid-19-related deaths reported in the week leading to December 10 had an underlying health condition.

According to the latest Covid-19 insight bulletin from the Central Statistics Office (CSO), there were 31 Covid deaths in the week ending December 10. Of these, 21 were people with an underlying health condition other than the virus.

This compares to the 51 deaths were reported from November 27 to December 3. Twenty of those who died last week were in the over-65 age cohort.

Dublin was the only county in the country to record more than five in the week leading to last Friday.

There were 31 deaths among confirmed COVID-19 cases in the week ending 10 December and, of those 21 deaths (68%) were people with an underlying conditionhttps://t.co/k0mcv2ukr9 #CSOIreland #Ireland #COVIDIreland #Health pic.twitter.com/NyCLxtlOl3

— Central Statistics Office Ireland (@CSOIreland) December 17, 2021

Confirmed cases 

In total, there were 28,112 new cases of Covid-19 reported between December 4 to December 10, down from the 30,659 confirmed one week prior.

7,627 of the additional cases were age 14 or younger - a 14% drop of the cases reported among this age group the week before.

Those aged 24 to 44 accounted for the largest percentage of new cases with 10,121.

There were also 5,785 new cases in people aged 45 to 64, and 3,385 among 15 to 24-year-olds.

1,027 of the cases were in people aged between 65 and 79, while just 167 were over the age of 80.

County breakdown 

Though confirmed cases decreased nationally by 8% last week, the number of new infections recorded in Dublin and Kilkenny rose.

9,608 new Covid cases were reported in the capital last week, up from 9,296 confirmed in the week ending December 3.

The number of additional cases in Kilkenny increased by 11 to 660.

Cork registered the second-highest total of new infections last week, though its overall total fell by 310 to 3,329.

In every other county in Ireland, confirmed case totals fell last week, with the largest decrease (43%) recorded in Roscommon.

Hospitalisations 

For the third week in a row, the number of patients admitted to hospital also fell last week.

Of the 238 people - 122 male and 116 female - hospitalised last week, 12 were admitted to intensive care units (ICUs).

70 of those hospitalised were aged between 45 and 64, while 61 were between the ages of 25 and 44.

The latest CSO stats on hospitalisations fit broadly within trends recorded over the course of the pandemic so far.

Since March 2020, people over the age of 65 have accounted for 50% of all Covid hospital admissions.

Just over half of these (52%) have been male.

Almost two-thirds (63%) of all Covid ICU admissions recorded since the pandemic began have been male.