Covid cases falling but concern over some stillbirths

The deaths of 39 more people related to COVID-19 have been notified this evening to the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC); while 462 new Coronavirus cases have also been confirmed.

They included less than five cases each in counties Cavan and Monaghan.

Ten of the deaths reported this evening occurred in March, 12 in February, 13 in January, and three earlier than this. One further death is under investigation.

The median age of those who died was 81 years and the age range was 0 - 97 years.

There has been a total of 4,396 COVID-19 related deaths in Ireland to date.

The figures are up to date as of midnight, Wednesday, March 3. There have been a total of 221,649 positive COVID-19 cases in Ireland since the virus was first confirmed here on February 29 last year.

The rolling five-day average is five cases per day in both County Cavan and Monaghan.

There have been 111 positive test results in County Cavan in the 14-days up to midnight on March 3 and 109 in neighbouring County Monaghan.

The figures translate to a 14-day incidence rate of 145.7 cases per 100,000 in Cavan and 177.6/100K in Monaghan. Both are now behind the national average of 190.2 cases per 100,000 of population.

Of the cases notified today:

- 224 are men / 236 are women

- 69% are under 45 years of age

- The median age is 31 years old

Of the total number of cases - 207are in Dublin, 29 in Cork, 26 in Meath, 20 in Kildare, 18 in Galway and the remaining 162 cases are spread across all other counties. **

As of 8am today, 460 COVID-19 patients are hospitalised, of which 107 are in ICU. 26 additional hospitalisations in the past 24 hours.

As of March 01, 446,474 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in Ireland:

303,550 people have received their first dose

142,924 people have received their second dose

Dr Ronan Glynn, deputy chief medical officer, Department of Health said: “We have been made aware of four preliminary reports of stillbirths potentially associated with a condition called COVID Placentitis. These reports should be interpreted with caution as the coroners have not yet concluded their findings.

"The HSEs National Women and Infants Programme is aware of and is monitoring the situation and has issued a related notice to obstetric departments. I would ask that the privacy of all of those affected by this disease continue to be respected at all times.”

Dr Breda Smyth, director of public health, HSE West said: “We have confirmed that more than 200 households have had an outbreak of COVID-19 that are linked back to the outbreak among students. We know that the new variant is more transmissible, and, based on the latest data, approximately a third of household contacts of confirmed cases in Ireland are now testing positive. If you display any symptoms of COVID-19, you must immediately self-isolate in your room and phone your GP.

“We know how to break the chains of transmission of this disease. We must all continue to make every effort to limit our social contacts, stay home and stay safe.”

Professor Philip Nolan, Chair of the NPHET Irish Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group, said: “The R number has at least remained stable and may even have decreased slightly, this is reflected in the week-on-week decline in cases that has been reported recently.”

“This represents an extraordinary effort over a very challenging nine-week period that has brought us from 6,500 cases to under 600.”