Six deaths and 582 new Covid cases with five in Mayo

The Health Protection Surveillance Centre has today been notified of six additional deaths related to Covid-19.

As of midnight on Thursday, the HPSC recorded 582 new confirmed.

They include five in Mayo, which has registered 148 new cases in the past two weeks.

The county now has a 14-day incidence rate of 113.4 - above the national average of 100.8.

Of the other cases notified today:

310 are men and 265 are women

60% are under 45 years of age

the median age is 38 years old

193 in Dublin, 59 in Wexford, 47 in Louth, 42 in Meath, 34 in Cork and the remaining 207 cases are spread all other remaining counties

As of 2 p.m .today, 198 Covid patients were hospitalised, of which 34 are in ICU.

There have been 13 additional hospitalisations in the past 24 hours.

Dr. Tony Holohan, Chief Medical Officer, said: "Over the past week, we have expressed significant concern that the level of infection was deteriorating day on day.

"The data today adds further evidence that the situation is getting worse more rapidly than we expected.

"The country simply cannot cope with this level of infection as we head into Christmas week.

"With vaccines offering hope in the coming months for our most vulnerable groups, we want to keep them alive and well so that they can receive it.

"Each one of us must do all we can to protect public health - cut your contacts, see only those you need to see. Choose to socialise safely, outdoors if possible. If you see a crowd, avoid it.

"By choosing to act safely right now, together we can limit the impact this disease will have in the weeks and months to come - and in doing so, we can protect the vulnerable and prevent unnecessary deaths."