A 19-YEAR-OLD is among 101 new Covid-19 deaths announced in Ireland.
The National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) yesterday announced the sad news that a further 101 people have been confirmed to have passed away with Covid-19.
The figure is the highest number of deaths announced in a single day since the pandemic began last March.
According to the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC), of the deaths announced yesterday evening, 83 took place in January, with 18 taking place in February.
There has now been a total of 3,418 Covid-19 related deaths in the Republic since the pandemic began.
A further 879 new cases of the virus were also announced yesterday-- this is the lowest daily number since last year as cases continue to drop since Level 5 restrictions were reintroduced.
The continued high number of deaths is related to an explosion of cases at the end of December and start of January, where Ireland's confirmed cases doubled in the space of a month.
There has now been a total of 198,424 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ireland, after the denotification of 8 confirmed cases.
Speaking at a news conference yesterday, Ireland's Chief Medical Officer, Dr Tony Holohan, said there has been "great improvement" in the reduction of transmission and urged people to hold firm.
Dr Tony Holohan"This is the highest number of deaths we have reported on any single day of the COVID-19 pandemic so far," he said.
"The high mortality we are experiencing as a country at the moment is related to the surge of infection we saw several weeks ago, and the hospitalisations and admissions to ICU that followed as a direct result.
"Although we have seen great improvement in the level of infection being reported, we have a long way to go and incidence needs to decline much further.
"The best way to honour those who have died from COVID-19, and those who loved them or provided care for them, is to follow the public health advice. Stay at home unless absolutely necessary, and encourage your friends, family and colleagues to do the same.
"What we can have control over today is the outlook of this disease in the weeks to come. Your positive actions matter, and they add up at a collective level. Please keep it up."
