Covid rates in Munster worsening, with Waterford, Kerry and Kanturk among worst-affected areas in country
Kanturk has the 10th highest rate of infection currently, at 1,098 per 100,000. File picture: Dan Linehan
The prominence of Covid-19 in Munster is continuing to worsen, with new data showing seven local electoral areas (LEAs) in Munster are among the 10 worst-impacted by Covid in the country.
Waterford has three of the most impacted regions: Waterford City South (1,672 cases per 100,000) Waterford City-East (1,148 per 100,000) and Tramore-Waterford City West (1,099 per 100,000).
Kerry has a further three: Kenmare (1,256 per 100,000) Tralee (1,210 per 100,000) and Castleisland (1,108 per 100,000). Kanturk in Cork has the 10th highest rate of infection currently, at 1,098 per 100,000.
At 1,695 cases per 100,000, Longford is the worst impacted LEA in the country.
Those figures come as the Taoiseach confirmed a decision will be made in the next month on whether to give Covid-19 jabs to children as young as five.
Micheál Martin's comments came as health officials warned that of the 2,549 new cases confirmed on Friday, the highest incidence was among five-12 year-olds.
The Food and Drug Administration in the US has already approved the use of vaccines for that age group. The Taoiseach said the European Medicines Agency (EMA) is now considering whether to follow suit.
“Then, when the EMA has given it consideration, Niac (National Immunisation Advisory Committee) and our authorities will give it consideration too.
“That is some weeks away – probably a month away before the [Irish] authorities are in a position to make an assessment in respect of vaccines for children."
In spite of the high case numbers among children and the calls from teacher unions for contact tracing to be restored, the Taoiseach was adamant there would be no return to widespread tracing in schools "because we do not want children out of school for 10 days unnecessarily".
"The European Centre for Disease Control advice, which has arrived in recent days, is such that there may be selective situations where it might pilot the use of antigen [testing] in selected situations," he said. "But it will not be on a widespread basis as yet."
He added: "The real issue is not Covid-19 overall for children's health – the real issue is other respiratory illnesses. The same advice applies – Covid-19 is spread in the community more than it is in schools and that basically schools have remained safe places for children."
As well as the 2,549 new cases, the National Public Health Emergency Team also confirmed yesterday there were now 481 patients in hospital with Covid-19, 97, of whom are in ICU.
Despite the continued high incidence of the disease, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said he did not expect a return to stricter lockdowns though he admitted the current restrictions would remain for a number of months.
“My expectation is that we won't have to go backward in terms of restrictions. The restrictions that we have in place at the moment will more or less remain as they are until we get through the winter,” he said.
Mr Varadkar added it was in the public’s hands to ensure we don’t see the return of restrictions.
On the strict rules coming into effect for late bars and nightclubs this weekend, the Tánaiste said he believed the industry would be “understanding".
“I think it's fair to say that the industry is welcoming the fact that they can open later and they can have tables of 10. There are other things they’d like to be able to do, like allow people to sit at the bar and maybe have larger groups. But I think there is an understanding from them that's not possible at the moment,” he said.
Mr Varadkar said the Government was waiving commercial rates for the hospitality sector for the rest of this year. The wage subsidy scheme will stay until the end of April.
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