238 new cases of Covid-19 in Meath as CMO warns of pressure on health services

There has been seven new deaths and 4,962 confirmed cases of Covid-19 reported in the last 24 hours.

There has been a total of 2,259 Covid-19 related deaths in Ireland and a total of 101,887 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Ireland.

2,408 are men and 2,539 are women, 63% are under 45 years of age with the median age reported as 36 years old

238 cases are in Meath up 178 on the previous day, 1,260 cases are in Dublin, 652 in Limerick, 350 in Cork, 321 in Louth, and 2,141 spread across all remaining counties.

Meath has a confirmed 14-day incidence rate of 364.5 cases per 100,000 people notified from 19/12/2020 to midnight 01/01/2021.

As of 2pm today, 685 Covid-19 patients are hospitalised, of which 62 are in ICU. There have been 96 additional hospitalisations in the past 24 hours.

Dr. Tony Holohan, Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health, said:

"This is a critical time. We are seeing a really significant surge in infection, which is leading to a very rapid increase in both hospitalisations and admissions to critical care units. This is not only unsustainable for the healthcare system, but also a deeply concerning level of preventable sickness and suffering that we must work together to address as quickly as possible.

"The number of people in hospital with Covid-19 has more than doubled from this day last week, and so has the number of people in ICU. Remember that behind each hospital statistic and ICU figure is a real person like you, with a family who cares about them, and a team of healthcare workers dedicated to protecting their lives. We must be as dedicated as we all were in the spring in our commitment to following the public health advice.

"Act as though you are infectious. Stay at home. Work from home starting from tomorrow, and if you are an employer, ask your employees to work at home. What we all do at a collective level today will have a direct impact on the level of infection and hospitalisations in the weeks to come.

"Your safe actions now will protect our hospitals and those who work so hard in them. Simply put: when you stay at home, you protect the frontline healthcare workers who have worked tirelessly to keep us all safe throughout this pandemic. Hold firm and remember them."