Navan Covid-19 rate three times national average

The Navan electoral area has one of the highest 14 day incidence rates of Covid-19, at almost three times the national average.

In the 14 days to last Monday, Navan had a rate of 429.4 per 100,000 of population with 150 new confirmed cases.

This compares with the national average of 148 per hundred thousand.

The rate in Ashbourne was 309.5, Trim, 102.6, Kells, 160.5 and Laytown Bettystown 146.5.

Ratoath has the lowest rate in Meath, at 87 per 100,000.

Meanwhile a further ten new deaths from Covid 19 have been reported in Ireland today along with 507 new cases of the virus, 17 of them in Meath.

The total number of confirmed cases of the virus in Ireland is now 229,306. There have been a total of 4,576 death related to Covid-19 here to date.

Of the deaths confirmed today, nine occurred in March and one remains under investigation.

As of 8am today, 336 COVID-19 patients were hospitalised, of which 87 are in ICU. 43 additional hospitalisations occurred in the past 24 hours.

Of the cases notified today:

249 are men / 255 are women

70% are under 45 years of age

the median age is 33 years old

216 are in Dublin, 40 in Kildare, 29 in Galway, 24 in Offaly, 18 in Tipperary, and the remaining 180 cases are spread across 20 other counties.

The National Immunisation Advisory Committee has this evening said that the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine can continue to be used in Ireland.

It follows a temporary suspension since last Sunday morning on the use of the vaccine in Ireland, following reports of unusual blood clots in Norway.

Yesterday, the European Medicines Agency concluded that the vaccine was "safe and effective."