Covid-19: nine deaths and 525 new cases confirmed in the State

A further nine deaths linked to Covid-19 and 525 new cases of the virus have been reported by the National Public Health Emergency Team on Saturday.

Seven of the deaths occurred in March and two in February. The median age of those who died was 76 and the age range was 64 to 95 years.

This brings to 4,585 the number of Covid-19 deaths in the State during the pandemic.

The 525 new cases of the disease bring the number of confirmed cases to 229,831.

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Covid-19: 10 further deaths and 507 more cases confirmed in the State

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Of the new cases, 266 were in Dublin, 33 in Meath, 29 in Wexford, 25 in Offaly, 24 in Donegal, with the remaining 148 cases spread across 19 other counties.

Nphet said in a statement 68 per cent of the new cases were aged under 45 and the median age was 34.

As of 8am on Saturday there were 328 in hospital with Covid-19, of which 83 are in ICU.

As of March 17th, 639,586 doses of Covid-19 vaccine have been administered in the State, with 468,328 people receiving a first dose and 171,258 their second.

AstraZeneca vaccine

Earlier, the chief executive of the Health Service Executive (HSE), Paul Reid said it was hoped that the 30,000 people affected by the pause in the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine will receive their dose this coming week or the week after.

“We are aiming throughout this week certainly to get to as many as we possibly can. If it goes into next week we will continue on as well,” he said, adding that each patient will need to be contacted and their appointments rescheduled.

Mr Reid also gave assurances that the AstraZeneca jab is safe and highly effective, and he said nobody will be offered a choice in the brand of vaccine they are offered.

“I can totally understand people may have questions . . . We will be reassuring them of the safety of the vaccine programme and of the effectiveness,” he told RTÉ’s Saturday with Katie Hannon radio programme.

Last Sunday the Government paused the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine following reports from Norway of serious blood clotting events in four adults who had received the jab.

On Thursday, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) concluded that the vaccine is not associated with an increase in the overall risk of blood clots in those who receive it. The benefits of the vaccine “outweigh the risks of side effects”, the EMA found.

This was followed on Friday by the National Immunisation Advisory Committee (Niac) giving the green light for the vaccine’s use for all adults in the State. The administration of the vaccine resumed on Saturday morning.

Niac recommended that healthcare professionals make themselves informed that very rare, complicated clotting events have been reported in a small number of people who have received the AstraZeneca vaccine.

Mr Reid pointed to the low rates of infection now among vaccinated cohorts, with a test positivity rate of 0.2 per cent among residents and staff in nursing homes. Cases among healthcare workers, meanwhile, have significantly reduced. Eight weeks ago healthcare workers represented 16 per cent of all Irish cases; now they are less than 4 per cent, he said.

John Donohue, a patient from Artane in Dublin, was one of the first to receive the Oxford-AstraZeneca jab at Dublin’s Beaumont Hospital on Saturday morning, after its use resumed.

Mr Donohue is being vaccinated as part Cohort 4, which consists of patients under the age of 70, whose underlying condition puts them at a high risk of severe disease.

Some 3,500 AstraZeneca vaccinations are to be administered this weekend and during the week to vulnerable patients and healthcare workers at Beaumont Hospital.

The Pfizer BioNTech vaccination programme is also continuing at the hospital, a spokesman said.

At the Helix Theatre in Dublin, another 3,700 people over the age of 75 are due to be vaccinated this weekend, said Mr Reid.

Anticipation

Preparations are under way within the HSE in anticipation of one million Covid-19 vaccine doses expected each month from April, as Johnson & Johnson boosts supplies, Mr Reid said on Saturday.

He said the vaccination programme will scale up from April and its heightened visibility should provide a lift to people’s mood and spirits.

“That is when the public will begin to see vaccination centres in the public. . . That is where it gives the population a real lift,” he said.

Vaccination centres will operate for 12 hours per day, and a recruitment campaign for vaccinators is under way, he said. Some 10,000 people already trained to administer shots will be part of the programme, while the HSE has also received about 3,000 applications from people who may be hired on a part-time or full-time basis.

He said 2,300 of these applications have been assessed and some applicants will be contacted this weekend. Updates to the IT system will be deployed in April to enable the wider public to book vaccination appointments.

The country is emerging from a “very bumpy quarter” in terms of vaccine supplies, which has primarily been disrupted by missed targets from AstraZeneca.

“We have got reassurances of their commitments to those forecasts,” he said.

Early in March the HSE set a target of 1.1 million doses to be administered by the end of the month. It now looks as though that 1.1 million doses will be delivered, but some batches could arrive in the last few days, said Mr Reid. He said 95 per cent of vaccines delivered have been administered within a week.

Cases in Northern Ireland

Meanwhile, Northern Ireland on Saturday reported 159 further cases of coronavirus and no further deaths of people who previously tested positive. - Additional reporting: PA