Deputy CMO Says Better Days Are In Sight

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Dr Ronan Glynn, Deputy Chief Medical Officer.

The Health Protection Surveillance Centre has today been notified of 28 additional deaths related to COVID-19. 27 of these deaths occurred in February, 1 in January.

The median age of those who died was 79 years and the age range was 32-97 years. There has been a total of 4,109* COVID-19 related deaths in Ireland.

As of midnight, Thursday 18th February, the HPSC has been notified of 763 confirmed cases of COVID-19. There is now a total of 213,400** confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ireland.

Of the cases notified today:

  • 370 are men / 388 are women
  • 72% are under 45 years of age
  • The median age is 30 years old
  • 251 in Dublin, 84 in Galway, 57 in Kildare, 47 in Limerick, 42 in Waterford and the remaining 282 cases are spread across all other counties.

As of 8am today, 754 COVID-19 patients are hospitalised, of which 151 are in ICU. 46 additional hospitalisations in the past 24 hours.

As of February 16th, 293,752 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in Ireland:

  • 187,893 people have received their first dose
  • 105,859 people have received their second dose

Dr. Ronan Glynn, Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health said; “The past year has been very difficult for people and we still have a way to go. Incidence remains very high and we cannot drop our guard.

But better days are in sight. People continue to respond to public health advice and act in solidarity with one another. We have a dedicated and committed health workforce and we are learning more about this disease all the time. We now have three very safe and effective vaccines being rolled out and supply should increase very substantially over the coming weeks.

Please continue in your efforts as we seek to ensure that as many people as possible can benefit from vaccination.”