Statement from the Health Protection Surveillance Centre:

The Health Protection Surveillance Centre has today been notified of 23 additional deaths related to COVID-19.

All 23 of these deaths occurred in January.

The median age of those who died is 84 years and the age range is 61-99 years.

There has been a total of 2,970 COVID-19 related deaths in Ireland.

As of midnight, Saturday 23^rd January, the HPSC has been notified of 1,378 confirmed cases of COVID-19. There is now a total of 187,554* confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ireland.

Of the cases notified today:

• 643 are men / 730 are women
• 58% are under 45 years of age
• The median age is 39 years old
• 379 in Dublin, 145 in Cork, 86 in Wexford, 85 in Galway, 71 in Limerick, and the remaining 612 cases are spread across all other counties**

As of 2pm today, 1,931 COVID-19 patients are hospitalised, of which 218 are in ICU. 44 additional hospitalisations in the past 24 hours.

Dr Tony Holohan, Chief Medical Officer said:

While we are starting to make progress in reducing the level of the virus in the community, this is a critical time for all of us to hold firm to the public health advice. We must not let down our guard against this highly infectious disease and the risk it poses to ourselves and those most medically vulnerable to infection.

There is a huge volume of disease in the country and the recent surge in cases continues to place an unprecedented strain on ICUs, hospitals and other frontline healthcare services. The answer lies in driving down social contacts and congregation in all settings, including in workplaces.

Everyone who can, should work from home where possible. For those of us who cannot work from home, it is essential to follow the public health advice in the workplace, such as the wearing of face coverings when moving around communal areas. We urge all employers to facilitate home working as much as possible and to ensure strict adherence to public health measures in the workplace.

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 8 confirmed cases. The figure of 187,554 confirmed cases reflects this.

**County data should be considered provisional as the national Computerised Infectious Disease Reporting System (CIDR) is a dynamic system and case details are continually being validated and updated.

Today’s cases, 14-day incidence rate per 100,000 population and new cases in last 14 days (as of midnight 23 January 2021) (incidence rate based on Census 2016 county population)

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