Seven new cases of Covid-19 in Clare as national daily figure drops to 437

There have been seven new cases of Covid-19 notified in Clare today while there have been no new deaths reported to the Health Protection Surveillance Centre. There has been a total of 4,422 COVID-19 related deaths in Ireland. As of midnight, Sunday 7th March, the HPSC has been notified of 437 confirmed cases of COVID-19. There is now a total of 223,651* confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ireland.

Of the cases notified today:

• 216 are men / 218 are women
• 71% are under 45 years of age
• The median age is 34 years old
• 184 in Dublin, 31 in Limerick, 26 in Donegal, 20 in Galway, 18 in Offaly and the remaining 158 cases are spread across all other counties**.

As of 8am today, 418 COVID-19 patients are hospitalised, of which 103 are in ICU. 20 additional hospitalisations in the past 24 hours.

As of March 5^th, 513,322 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in Ireland:

• 363,601 people have received their first dose
• 149,721 people have received their second dose

The COVID-19 Dashboard provides up-to-date information on the key indicators of COVID-19 in the community including daily data on Ireland’s COVID-19 Vaccination Programme.

Dr. Ronan Glynn, Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health said; “Our Amárach research data shows compliance with the key public health measures remain very high; washing hands regularly (93%), using hand sanitiser (95%), social distancing while in a queue (93%).

“While levels of anxiety (36%) and boredom (38%) are understandably high, it is encouraging to see that a sense of hope continues to rise across the population with 48% of people reporting that they feel the worst of the pandemic is behind us.

“This hope is justified in the context of the continued improvement in the key indicators of the disease and with the ongoing rollout of the vaccination programme over the coming weeks. However, it is vital that this hope does not give way to complacency; across Europe countries are seeing a deteriorating picture and our own disease incidence remains high – we must do all we can to continue to suppress this virus and to ensure that as many people as possible get to benefit from vaccination over the coming months. Keep your guard up and hold firm.”

Dr. Cliona Murphy, Chair of the Institute of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists said; “We recommend that everyone of reproductive age should take the COVID-19 vaccine as it becomes available. We are aware of misinformation about risks associated with taking COVID-19 vaccines and an impact on fertility. There is no evidence that taking any of the COVID-19 vaccines affects a woman’s future ability to conceive, or to continue a pregnancy.”