Parts of Mayo, Armagh and Monaghan are experiencing the highest Covid-19 infection rates in Ireland, new figures show.
The latest Covid-19 data from local electoral areas in the Republic and postcode areas in the North show how the disease is spreading in different communities.
Both sets of statistics use the incidence rate of infection per 100,000 population, giving a better understanding of an outbreak than straight case numbers.
Belmullet in Co Mayo remains the area worst affected by coronavirus on the island, with an infection rate of 2,008 cases per 100,000 in the period covering January 12th to 25th. This has more than halved from last week when the area had a rate of 5,556.
In Northern Ireland, the BT64 postcode in Co Armagh had the highest rate of new infections over the two-week period from January 11th to 24th, recording 1,975 cases per 100,000.
The next worst-affected area on the island was Monaghan, with an incidence rate of 1,763.
Carrick-On-Shannon in Co Leitrim was the area with the lowest infection rate in the Republic, reporting 211 cases per 100,000.
The BT55 postcode district on the north coast recorded 10 cases during the 14-day period, an incidence rate of 122.
Close contacts
This comes as the HSE confirmed that testing of close contacts of confirmed Covid-19 cases will resume on Friday.
At the end of December testing of close contacts was suspended temporarily to prioritise testing of symptomatic cases.
It was a result of pressure on the testing system due to widespread community transmission seen in the third wave.
HSE chief executive Paul Reid said there had been a “modest decline” in the number of people in hospitals with the virus, but said the health care system will not see the benefits of this “for some time to come”.
Capacity in intensive care units “remains to close to a tipping point for us to have any level of comfort”, Mr Reid said.
There are 1,620 Covid patients in the hospital system currently and 216 of those are in intensive care as of Thursday lunchtime.
There are 330 patients in ICU overall, including non-Covid patients, leaving just 18 intensive care beds free across the country.
There have been over 800 deaths linked to coronavirus in January alone, Mr Reid said.
