400 a day vaccinated in Simonstown

As vaccinations of the under 70s continued in Navan this week, the incident rate of Covid-19 in the Navan area remains worryingly high at more than twice the national average.

There were 86 new cases in the Navan Electoral Area in the two weeks up to Monday of last week and an incidence rate of 246.2 per 100,000 of population, compared to the national average of 113.9.

However, since the new vaccination centre at Simonstown opened on Thursday last up to close of business yesterday (Monday) evening, 1,135 people in the 65-69 cohort, have been vaccinated.

"We are offering approximately 400 appointments per day. We are currently operating 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday, but can increase to a 12 hour day and operate seven days as vaccine supplies and staffing increase," said a HSE spokesperson.

Meanwhile, Meath as a whole had the seventh highest incidence rate in the country in figures reported last night, with 299 cases reported in the last 14 days.

A further 28 new cases were reported in the county today, while there were four cases of Covid-19 being treated in Our Lady's Hospital Navan last night along with two suspected cases.

There were six Covid patients in Drogheda and one suspected case. One person was being treated in a critical care bed.

The Ashbourne and Ratoath electoral areas also had high incidence rates with Ratoath reporting 57 new cases and a rate of 171,1 per 100k, while Ashbourne had 51 cases and a rate of 175.4. Kells had the lowest rate of 83.3 with 27 new cases, Trim had 33 new cases and a rate of 105.8, while Laytown/Bettystown had 33 new cases and a rate if 96.7.

This evening, the Health Protection Surveillance Centre was notified of ten further coronavirus-related deaths and 426 new cases.

Of the deaths reported today, four occurred in April, five in March and one in February.

This now brings the death toll from Covid-19 in Ireland to 4,884, with 247,489 total confirmed cases of the virus since the pandemic began.

As of 8am today (Tuesday), 153 Covid-19 patients are hospitalised, of which 47 are in ICU. There have been 10 additional hospitalisations in the past 24 hours.

Of the cases notified today: 203 are men and 221 are women, 74% are under 45 years of age and the median age is 29 years old.

156 were in Dublin, 39 in Donegal, 28 in Kildare, 28 in Meath, 25 in Limerick and the remaining 150 cases are spread across 18 other counties.

As of last Sunday (25th April) there have been 1,398,061 doses of COVID-19 vaccine administered in Ireland: 998,134 people have received their first dose and 399,927 people have received their second dose

Dr Tony Holohan, Chief Medical Officer said: "As a country, we have now given a first dose of Covid-19 vaccine to 25 percent of eligible adults. In order to protect the vital work of the vaccination programme in offering us all protection from Covid-19, it is important we continue to remain vigilant and careful. Right now, we need to protect the progress we have made together."While we should remain cautious, we can also be cautiously optimistic. Our vaccination programme, alongside the continued commendable adherence of the vast majority of people in Ireland to the public health advice, are the key to exiting this pandemic in the coming months. However, doing things like mixing indoors when disease is still circulating at a high level puts our progress at risk. Please continue to act in the best interests of one another and be safe when socialising."