Statement from the Health Protection Surveillance Centre:

The Health Protection Surveillance Centre has today been notified of 3 additional deaths related to COVID-19.

There has now been a total of 1,868 COVID-19 related deaths in Ireland.

As of midnight Tuesday 20^th October, the HPSC has been notified of 1,167 confirmed cases of COVID-19. There is now a total of 53,422* confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ireland.

Of the cases notified today;

• 538 are men / 627 are women
• 64% are under 45 years of age
• The median age is 33 years old
• 263 in Dublin, 142 in Meath, 137 in Cork, 86 in Cavan and the remaining 539 cases are spread across all remaining counties.

As of 2pm today, 314 COVID-19 patients are hospitalised, of which 34 are in ICU. 27 additional hospitalisations in the past 24 hours.

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

The behaviour of every individual is the most effective defence we have against the spread of COVID-19.

Everyone needs to stay at home, other than for essential reasons. Follow the public health advice and treat everyone that you come into contact with as though they are a close contact of someone with COVID-19 – keep your distance, avoid meeting others.

We are facing a big challenge, but we have faced this challenge before, and that means we know how to suppress this virus, by following the public health advice in everything we do.

The COVID-19 Dashboard provides up-to-date information on the key indicators of COVID-19 in the community.

*Validation of data at the HPSC has resulted in the denotification of 1 confirmed case. The figure of 53,422 confirmed cases reflects this.

Today’s cases, 14-day incidence rate per 100,000 population and new cases in last 14 days (as of midnight 20 October 2020) (incidence rate based on Census 2016 county population)

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