A further 1,163 new cases of Covid-19 have been reported in the State. As of 8am on Friday, 297 patients were in hospital with the virus with 61 of those in intensive care.
Earlier, it was reported a further 21 people died having contracted Covid-19 in the week up to September 17th with the number of cases reported standing at 8,662 – a fall of 8 per cent on the previous week.
Throughout the pandemic, most deaths have occurred in the older age groups with 86 per cent of the death amongst those aged over 65 years. Cork recorded six deaths, the only county to record more than five deaths in the week, according to the fresh figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO).
The figures show hospitalisations have been decreasing since the end of August with 111 recorded over the seven days to the middle of September. There were 241 hospitalisations n the week up to August 27th compared with 111 in the week ending September 17th. There were 23 admissions to ICU in the same time period.
People under the age of 44 accounted for 76 per cent of cases with the under 14s making up 34 per cent of confirmed cases with those aged 65 and over making up 7 per cent of the new cases.
With 2,657, Dublin accounted for almost a third of all new cases for the week, while Cork was the county with the second-highest number of new cases recording 755 positive tests over the period. Leitrim, Longford, Roscommon, Sligo and Wicklow had the fewest cases, at less than 100 cases in each county, in the same week.
The CSO figures also include vaccination figures for the first time, and in nine out of ten Local Electoral Areas (LEAs) more than 80 per cent of the population aged 12 and over were fully vaccinated as of September 9th.
Rates of full vaccination tend to be lower along the Border with Northern Ireland and in LEAs with a more urban population. In Dublin, higher rates are seen in LEAs to the south and east of the county
Throughout the whole period of the pandemic from March 2020 to the week ending September 17th, 2021, the over-65 age categories accounted for 53 per cent of all those hospitalised, with men more likely to become seriously unwell.
Since the start of the pandemic, 53 per cent of the people who have been hospitalised have been with the rate of ICU admission standing at 64 per cent.
In the North, almost 60 deaths linked to Covid occured in the latest week analysed by statisticians.
The 59 fatalities happened in the week September 11th to 17th, according to the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (Nisra).
They take the total number of coronavirus-linked deaths recorded by Nisra to 3,394.
The Nisra figure is drawn from different data sources than the toll reported by Stormont’s Department of Health.
It is always higher than the department’s total, as it provides a broader picture of the impact of Covid-19.
The statistics agency reports its Covid-19 data with a week lag.
The Department of Health’s death toll stood at 2,499 on September 17th.
The department’s statistics focus primarily on hospital deaths and only include people who have tested positive for the virus.
Nisra obtains its data from death certificates on which Covid-19 is recorded as a factor by a medical professional, regardless of where the death took place or whether the patient tested positive.
Of the 3,394 deaths recorded by Nisra by September 17, 2,300 (68 per cent) took place in hospitals, 827 (25 per cent) in care homes, 14 (0.4 per cent) in hospices and 253 (7.5 per cent) at residential addresses or other locations.
Nisra reported that, up to September 17th, the deaths of 1,081 care home residents were linked to Covid-19.
The figure includes deaths that occurred in care homes and in other locations, including care home residents who died in hospital, having been taken there for treatment.
Care home residents make up around 32 per cent of deaths linked to Covid-19 in Northern Ireland, according to Nisra.
In the week to September 17th, 63 coronavirus-linked deaths were officially registered in Northern Ireland.
This is a slightly different figure from the death occurrence number.
Some of the fatalities registered in the week September 11th to September 17th could have occurred before that week, as deaths can take a number of days to register.
Those aged 75 and over accounted for 74.8 per cent of the 3,370 Covid-19 related deaths registered between March 19th, 2020, and September 17th, 2021. – additional reporting PA
