LIMERICK has recorded its lowest daily increase in confirmed Covid-19 cases so far this year.
Figures released this evening show that there were 11 new confirmed cases of the disease in Limerick. It is a fall from 49 new cases yesterday, with the 14-day incidence rate also dropping from 280.7 per 100,000 people yesterday to 273.5 today.
Limerick remains above the national incidence rate which is 201.2.
In total, there has been 533 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Limerick city and county across the last 14 days.
Nationally, the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) has confirmed 14 additional deaths related to Covid-19.
Three of the deaths occurred in March, 10 in February, and one relates to last November.
There has now been a total of 4,333 Covid-19 related deaths in Ireland.
As of midnight, the HPSC has been notified of 359 confirmed cases of Covid-19. It means there has now been a total of 220,630 confirmed cases in Ireland.
Of today’s new cases, 157 are men, and 193 are female. Two-thirds of the cases relate to people under the age of 45, with the average age being 45 years.
The capital once again has seen the highest daily increases, with 159 in Dublin. They are followed by 25 cases in Westmeath, 21 in Louth and Galway respectively and 19 in Meath.
The remaining 114 cases are spread across 19 other counties including the 11 new ones in Limerick, plus 15 in Cork, six in Clare, and under five new cases each in Kerry and Tipperary.
As of 8am today, 498 Covid-19 patients are in hospital, with 116 of these in intensive care. There has been 28 more people admitted to hospital in the last day.
As of February 27, 435,895 doses of the Covid-19 vaccine have been administered in Ireland – 294,550 people have received their first dose, with 141,345 people now onto their second shot of the Pfizer treatment.
Deputy chief medical officer Dr Ronan Glynn said: “While the low number of cases reported today may be attributable to a weekend effect, it is nevertheless very welcome and represents the lowest number of cases reported on a single day since mid-December.”
“While we continue to make good progress in Ireland, globally in the past week, the number of cases of Covid-19 has increased for the first time in seven weeks. We must not allow this virus the opportunity to do the same here. Please hold firm to the public health advice and together we can continue to protect and build on the progress we have made over the last two months,” he concluded.