As we enter Christmas week, the outlook of Covid-19 in Ireland has continued to deteriorate in the past number of days.
On Friday, the Government's easing of restrictions to allow families meet over Christmas went ahead as planned, but not before concerns were voiced by the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet), believing the two-week relaxation of measures could cause transmission rates to spiral out of control.
Today, Chief Medical Officer renewed these concerns, urging the public to reconsider their planned social interactions for the coming week in order to drive infection rates down after 764 new cases of the virus were reported to the Department of Health today, along with four additional Covid-related deaths.
Ireland's national 14-day incidence rate per 100,000 has now reached 112.2, jumping from 80.4 cases per 100,000 recorded earlier this week.
The worsening national rate is reflective of the sharp increase in a number of counties, including Cavan, Kilkenny and Carlow, while Donegal and Louth retain the highest incidence rates in the country with 263.8 and 235.1 respectively.
Just four counties have maintained rates below 50, namely Leitrim, Clare, Roscommon and Westmeath, while Cork and Galway are not far behind on 51.6 and 52.3.
As the easing of restrictions now allows people to travel beyond their own county, there is a fear high transmission rates in some areas will now spread to areas where the virus was relatively under control.
In a statement this evening, Dr Holohan highlighted that on December 11th, the seven-day incidence rate for people aged 19-44 was 106 per 100,000, which had jumped to 217 yesterday.
"If these younger people come into contact with their loved ones over the age of 65, we could see a spike in infections in this more vulnerable group," he said.
Shortly after the announcement of today's Covid figures, the Government confirmed it would be imposing a 48-hour ban on flights from Britain as they battle a new strain of the virus which is thought to be much more infectious.
According to the latest data from the European Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, on Thursday Ireland had the lowest incidence rate of any EU country with Lithuania and Croatia taking the top spots.
At that same point, the UK recorded a rate of 348.2 cases per 100,000, but has since broken its daily cases record twice, reporting 35,383 cases on Thursday, followed by 35,928 cases today.
The Cabinet here are due to reconsider the UK travel ban on Tuesday when they meet, along with Nphet's recommendations to bring tighten restrictions around the hospitality sector and household visits from December 28th, but it is thought the Government will push this date out to December 30th.
