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There were a further nine deaths from Covid-19 in the past week, the latest official weekly statistics from the Health Service Executive (HSE) show.
The most recent deaths from the coronavirus disease reported by the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) bring the total number of deaths from the disease in the pandemic to 6,664.
The nine deaths in the week to March 19th - a decrease from 24 deaths reported the previous week - are the lowest weekly number of Covid-19 deaths since the start of the year.
The mean age of the most recent deaths was 78 and the median age was 83.
The HPSC ’s latest report on clusters shows that there were 34 new outbreaks reported in nursing homes during the week, a reduction of 13 from the previous week, and 16 new outbreaks in hospitals, down 14 on the previous week.
There are 303 outbreaks in nursing homes deemed to be “open”. An outbreak is defined as two or more linked cases of Covid-19. An outbreak is not deemed to be closed until there have been no new cases of infection for 28 days.
Overall, 3,548 men and 3,081 women have died from the disease during the pandemic with the median age standing at 82 and the mean age at 80.
Just under 90 per cent of the deaths have been among people aged 65 and older.
Louth is the county with the highest Covid-19 mortality rate with 198 deaths per 100,000 people followed by Mayo with 194 deaths per 100,000 people.
Sligo has the lowest mortality rate with 73 deaths for every 100,000 people.
Hospitals account for the location with the highest number of deaths with 52.6 per cent of fatalities occurring in hospitals, followed by residential institutions at 32.5 per cent.
There have been 3,855 deaths linked to outbreaks, including 2,343 in nursing homes, or 35 per cent of all deaths.
A new wave of Covid-19 infections is sweeping the country with 23,702 Covid-19 cases reported in the State on Tuesday, including 15,873 positive antigen tests, the highest number registered on a single day.
Experts believe the rise in cases in Ireland and other European countries is driven by the BA.2 subvariant, which is slightly more transmissible than the Omicron variant that led to a surge in cases over the Christmas period.
Advice
Earlier on Wednesday, the director general of the Health Service Executive (HSE) Paul Reid said the executive is awaiting advice from the National Immunisation Advisory Council (Niac) to start dispensing a fourth dose of the Covid-19 vaccine to older and vulnerable people.
“We’re ready, we haven’t dismantled the structures,” said Mr Reid.
Mr Reid defended Niac saying that it had served the country well during the pandemic with its advice on timing and sequencing of vaccines. Ireland had done very well because of the advice from Niac and the HSE must act on the best evidence, he said.
Mr Reid told Newstalk’s Pat Kenny Show it was important the 720,000 people who had not yet received their booster because they had Covid do so now. He encouraged parents to have their children vaccinated as it had been proven that the vaccine provided the best protection against serious illness from the virus.
The current wave of the virus, while not causing illness as severe as previous variants, was still having an impact on the health service in terms of flow, he said, as elderly patients could not be discharged to nursing homes if there was an outbreak. At present there is an average of seven cases of Covid per nursing home.
There are also 4,300 health service staff absent from work because of Covid and a further 1,000 staff in nursing homes, he said. “We are seeing increasingly crippling effects of Covid.”
Mr Reid said he could not be clearer in his advice that people should wear masks on public transport and in congregated settings, and they should also continue hand washing and social distancing. “I would encourage people to get back to basics,” said Mr Reid.
Isolating
Meanwhile, Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly is self isolating with flu-like symptoms and will miss engagements he was due to attend on Wednesday.
Mr Donnelly has tested negative for Covid-19 but bowed out of an event at Connelly Hospital in Dublin as a precaution.
He was due to attend the launch of a planned new RCSI Education and Research Centre on the campus. He also planned to bring legislation to the Dáil.
Mr Donnelly said on Twitter: “Was looking forward bringing the Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill before the House today.
“This is a critical and historic piece of legislation.
“It will introduce a regulatory framework for AHR and will pave the way for publicly funded treatments such as IVF.”
However, he added: “Unfortunately, I have flu-like symptoms.
“Have tested negative for Covid but am isolating at home in line with public health advice - and will continue to do so for 48 hours after my symptoms have resolved.”
He encouraged people any symptoms of Covid-19, “even mild ones” to isolate and follow the expert advice on the HSE website. He shared the link to the advice:
Minister for Justice Helen McEntee will not attend the British - Irish intergovernmental conference to be held on Wednesday after testing positive for Covid.
Ms McEntee, who previously tested positive for Covid in January 2021, did so again in recent days, a spokesman said. She is self isolating at home.
Ms McEntee’s portion of the ministerial meeting will be handled by Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney, who is meeting UK Northern Ireland secretary Brandon Lewis and Minister of State Conor Burns at Farmleigh on Wednesday.
Ms McEntee did not physically attend cabinet on Tuesday, it is understood. Her spokesman said: “The Minister is working from home after a positive Covid test in recent days.”