Cavan is proportionally the worst affected county for the coronavirus outside of Dublin, latest provisional figures are suggesting.
While in real terms the number of confirmed cases of Covid-19 infections in the Border county is a fraction of those in the capital, infection rates in Cavan appear to be much higher than in the rest of the country when measured against its actual population.
The figures released by the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) on Saturday compare cases to county populations.
They show 345 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Cavan, a county with a population of about 76,000, as of midnight on Wednesday.
However, that would translate into almost 453 cases for every 100,000 people, making it the proportionally the second-worst-affected county in the State.
Earlier this month, the Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA) said doctors were being dispatched to work at Cavan General Hospital, after it was reported that up to 70 doctors and nurses working there had become infected with Covid-19.
Meanwhile, in Dublin, there were 6,567 confirmed cases up to midnight on Wednesday, which represents more than 487 infections per 100,000 in the population.
Westmeath ranks the third highest when comparing cases to county populations, with an infection rate of what would be some 358 cases per 100,000 people.
The figures are in a report prepared by the HPSC for the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET). It is titled Epidemiology of Covid-19 in Ireland and it notes that the data is provisional.
Border counties
Other than Leitrim, Border counties all appear to have significantly higher rates per population than much of the south and west of the country.
In Louth, which includes dense urban centres Drogheda and Dundalk, the confirmed Covid-19 rate per 100,000 population is almost 298 cases. In Monaghan it is more than 270, while in Donegal the rate is just in excess of 221.
Sparsely populated Leitrim has a rate of almost 144.
The figures compare unfavourably with parts of the southeast, most notably.
Wexford has the lowest rate per 100,000 population, at less than 51 cases. That rate is almost nine times lower than that of Cavan, and a fraction of those of all the other Border counties.
Waterford is the second lowest at just below 88.
Even counties with large cities have notably lower rates of cases per head of population than most of the Border counties.
In Cork, the rate is 174 cases; in Limerick it is 176, while Galway is recording 103 confirmed cases per 100,000 people.
Counties around Dublin all rank higher than the south and west: Kildare has a rate of 279 confirmed infections per 100,000 population; Wicklow has a rate of almost 270, while Meath has a rate of 216.