NPHET issues specific warning over Covid-19 in Offaly, Laois and Kildare

The Acting Chief Medical Officer Dr Ronan Glynn has advised people in Offaly, Laois and Kildare to be extremely cautious after NPHET identified that the three counties accounted for almost half of all cases over the past 14 days.

Some 69 new cases were reported today, including 22 in Offaly, 19 in Kildare and 8 in Laois. Just two of the 69 cases related to community transmission.

Dr Ronan Glynn said everyone in those three counties in particular needs to pay attention if they have any of the symptoms of COVID-19 and to refocus their efforts on public health measures.

NPHET said there were four significant outbreaks across meat processing plants in Kildare and Offaly – three of the facilities accounted for 150 cases.

Although he didn’t suggest that NPHET would be making a recommendation to impose local restrictions in Offaly, Laois and Kildare, he said it couldn’t be ruled out but that more information was needed.

Dr Glynn also tonight recommended those 70 or older in Kildare, Laois or Offaly to limit the number of people they meet to a small number, to maintain a two-metre distance, and if possible to avoid public transport.

It was also revealed that there appeared to be about 60 cases from Offaly, Kildare and Laois, coming through from the contact tracing system, which could be reported tomorrow.

GPs in Offaly, Kildare and Laois have been written to by NPHET in an effort to highlight concerns.

Dr Glynn said there was not a “significant level of community transmission” at present, but significant outbreaks.

“We fully expected to get large clusters like this, it’s an entirely normal part of dealing with a pandemic,” he said.

“While the majority of these cases can be accounted for by outbreaks, this volume of cases is significant and our main priority now is to ensure that these outbreaks do not lead to widespread community transmission in the region.

The figures come as 69 new cases were confirmed by midnight on Wednesday.

There is now a total of 26,372 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ireland.

Of the cases notified today;

•37 are men / 31 are women

•65% are under 45 years of age

•39 are confirmed to be associated with outbreaks or are close contacts of a confirmed case

•2 cases have been identified as community transmission

•22 cases are located in Offaly, 19 in Kildare, 8 in Laois, 6 in Dublin, and 14 are spread across eight other counties (Clare, Cork, Donegal, Galway, Limerick, Louth, Meath and Wexford).

The deaths of five patients were reported today. However, four of those deaths occurred in previous months, with notifications only coming through in the past day.

Professor Philip Nolan, Chair of the NPHET Irish Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group, said; “We have seen a significant increase in the incidence of COVID-19 over the past week. The reproduction number for the virus is now estimated to be 1.8. A reproduction number of almost 2 is a serious concern, and although we have not yet seen a significant increase in community transmission, there is a significant risk this could develop over the coming days and weeks emphasising the need for each of us to be extremely cautious that we do not contribute to the transmission of the virus.”