By Reuters Staff
1 Min Read
Access to Salthill beach is closed amid the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Galway, Ireland, January 6, 2021. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne
DUBLIN (Reuters) - The head of the Irish health service said on Thursday there were early signs that the spread of COVID-19 was being curtailed by the country’s lockdown, which began in late December and has since been tightened after a spike in infections.
We are seeing “early signs of reducing numbers of cases, a reducing growth rate of the number of cases, and reducing number of contacts” that people report having in the days prior to diagnosis, Health Service Executive CEO Paul Reid told a news conference.
Updated / Thursday, 7 Jan 2021
23:29
The HSE said it would continue to administer the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine on a two-dose schedule within 21 days
The head of the Health Service Executive has said that 15,314 first doses of the Covid-19 vaccine have been administered from the 81,900 doses that have been delivered.
Chief Executive Paul Reid said the programme is on track to have 35,000 doses delivered by the end of the week.
Mr Reid said that inoculations had been given across the seven hospital groups at 35 locations.
He also said that an agreement with private hospitals to use their facilities to help ease the pressure caused by the coronavirus on the public hospital system is being finalised.
Coronavirus: 1,754 new cases and 11 more deaths reported as hospital numbers pass 500 Nphet warns 9,000 additional new cases will be reported in coming days
Fri, Jan 1, 2021, 08:04 Updated: Fri, Jan 1, 2021, 20:20
More than 9,000 additional coronavirus cases are expected to be reported in the coming days as positivity rates exceed 20 per cent, the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) has said.
A further 1,754 cases of the virus and 11 more deaths were reported by Nphet on New Year’s Day.
The team said up to 70 people were being admitted to the State’s hospital system each day and the number of people in hospital with the disease passed 500 on Friday. There are now 47 people seriously ill in ICU with Covid-19. Some 9,000 new cases are expected to be reported in the coming days because of a backlog in Christmas reporting.
Vaccine To Be Given The Green Light In EU Within A Week By Louise Phelan D Cruz
It comes as officials here continue to put roll out plans in place.
The President of the European Commission says the first Covid 19 jab will be authorised within a week – with plans to start a Europe wide roll out immediately.
Ursula von der Leyen told the European Parliament that all member states will start vaccinating against the disease at the same time:
Officials here are still working out the details of how vaccine certificates might work - but say it shouldn t be seen as an immunity passport.