As the number of Covid-19 cases continue to rise across the country, Ireland still compares poorly to the rest of our European counterparts,
Yesterday it was revealed that Ireland now has the worst coronavirus infection rate in Europe, after recording more than 45,000 new cases over the last week.
Data compiled by Johns Hopkins University and Our World in Data, a non-profit online scientific publication based at the University of Oxford, show the disease is now spreading at a faster rate in Ireland than other European nations and the United States.
The dataset uses the rate of infection per million people, giving a better understanding of the spread than straight case numbers.
Ireland is recording 1,267 cases per million, based on a rolling average of new cases reported during the seven days to January 9th.
Monaghan continues to have the highest 14 day incidence rate per 100,000 with a rate of 2525.0, according to the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC)
From December 27th up until midnight on January 9th, the county recorded 1,550 cases.
Louth is the county with the second highest incidence rate currently at 2201.2, followed by Limerick which has a rate of 1878.4.
During this 14-day period, Louth recorded 2,837 new cases and Limerick recorded 3,661 cases.
Overall, Ireland recorded 61,484 new cases over the past two weeks and the current incidence rate is now 1,291.17.
There were 1,354 people admitted to hospital in the past 14 days and a further 67 people who were admitted to ICU.
Age breakdown
Regarding the breakdown of new cases by age, those aged between 25 and 34 years of age accounted for the most new cases with 12,244, followed by 35-44 year olds who accounted for 9,192.
In terms of those who ended up being hosptialised with the virus, 75-84 year olds accounted for 268 people and those aged between 65 and 74 accounted for 247 people who were hospitalised.
That same age group also accounted for the most people who were admitted to ICU with 21 people.
As of 8am this morning, there are currently 1,575 people in Irish hospitals with Covid-19 and a further 146 people in ICU.
