Coronavirus: Hospital numbers surge to nearly 500 as Level 5 lockdown comes into effect irishtimes.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from irishtimes.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Anybody who you invite to a party, there will be many there who are already infected and unfortunately they ll infect more. So if we consider that one infection with ten layers of infection causes up to 54,000 infections it is one of the most infectious viruses around. My advice is there is no congregating, no house parties. Any meeting or congregating has to be stopped now.
Meanwhile, Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan has told Newstalk s
Late Breakfast With Mark Cagney suggestions that the restrictions could last into March are a possibility. I can t rule that out, I couldn t rule that out - but at the moment, we have a four week opportunity.
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There have been 1,620 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ireland and 12 additional related deaths.
This gives a total of 2,237 COVID-19 related deaths and 91,779 confirmed cases in Ireland.
This includes the denotification of one death, and the re-classification of two probable cases to confirmed .
Of the cases notified on Thursday:
794 are men / 819 are women
65% are under 45 years of age
The median age is 34 years old
Some 498 cases are in Dublin, 203 in Limerick, 89 in Galway, 73 in Cork and 67 in Mayo.
The remaining 690 cases are spread across all other counties.
As of 2.00pm on Thursday, 490 COVID-19 patients are hospitalised - of which 42 are in ICU.
Ministers are set to consider a full level five lockdown when they meet today.
The unscheduled Cabinet meeting is taking place this afternoon due to the soaring rates of coronavirus in Ireland.
An announcement on the Government s decision is expected later today.
1,546 new cases
were confirmed yesterday - the highest daily rate since the pandemic began.
Hospitalisations are also continuing to climb, with 454 COVID-19 patients in hospitals this morning - with 59 admissions in the last 24 hours.
A phased introduction of level five measures is currently underway - although non-essential retail and gyms are currently allowed remain open.
However, NPHET has recommended the introduction of full level five lockdown measures.
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It s now nearly a year since many people have been working from home either all or most of the time.
This has caused disruption to many people s typical routine, and
led to concerns around people s physical and mental health.
Professionals are also highlighting potential back and neck problems resulting from people s sedentary lifestyles while remote working.
Derek Cawley, a consultant spinal surgeon, told
Late Breakfast with Mark Cagney that he and his colleagues have seen a trend since the pandemic began.
He said: I asked how many had seen an increased incident of presentations of people with back pain and neck pains - certainly over 50% of the physiotherapists overall, with an [even] higher number among those in community or private practice.