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COVID Deaths and Cases

From 28 February to 18 September 2020

CSO statistical release, , 11am

COVID-19 Insight Bulletins: Deaths and Cases, Series 12

Information on the people who have died from COVID-19 or have been diagnosed with the virus.

Key Findings:

  • Dublin made up 56% of all new cases, a total of 840 cases, for the week ended 18 September which is the second week in a row that Dublin had more than 800 weekly cases
  • The number of people who have died from COVID-19 is less than 20 for each of the last 14 weeks
  • The number of weekly confirmed COVID-19 cases is more than 1,500 cases in each of the last two weeks up to the week ending 18 September
  • There were 1,503 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the week ending 18 September, a decrease of 73 cases from the previous week
  • The median age of new confirmed COVID-19 cases was 33 years old for the week ending 18 September
  • This is the second week in a row that Clare and Donegal have recorded more than 20 new cases, the third such week for Galway, Louth, Meath, Offaly, Waterford and Wicklow, the fourth such week for Cork, seventh for Limerick and the eighth such week for Kildare
  • More than half (55%) of confirmed cases are now linked to an outbreak
  • In terms of outbreaks, 51% of cases associated with outbreaks are male, 87% of cases are under 44 years old and 54% were located in private houses
  • In the last seven weeks, 12% of cases have been in the 0 – 14 age group and 22% in the 15 – 24 age group
  • Women and those aged between 25-44 continue to account for the highest number of confirmed cases
  • Those living in Electoral Divisions where the median household income is between €40,000 and €50,000 accounted for 31% of cases in the last two months compared to 26% of all cases since the start of the pandemic
  • People living in areas where more than 25% of the population live in rental accommodation were worst affected by the pandemic accounting for 56% of all cases

This is the twelfth publication in our new series of information bulletins produced by the Central Statistics Office (CSO), that aim to provide insights into those who have either died from or contracted COVID-19, by using data from the Computerised Infectious Disease Reporting (CIDR) provided to the CSO by the Health Protection Surveillance Centre and data from the HSE’s Covid Care Tracker (CCT) system. This Bulletin covers the period from 28 February to 18 September 2020.

Referrals and Testing

An analysis of referrals for community testing data from the HSE’s Swift Queue (A2i) system shows that there were 90,609 referrals for community testing in the week ending 20 September. Referrals for testing have increased every week since mid-August. There have been increases in all age groups over this period but in particular among the 0 – 14 age group, which has risen from 883 at the end of July to a high of 22,273 in the week ending 13 September. Less than 20% of referrals in July were from GP’s (see Table A2) while referrals from GPs make up more than 60% of the total in September.

Week Ending0-14 years15-24 years25-44 years45-64 years65-79 years80 years and overAll ages
15/03/20204342162112236388
22/03/20203174239199206574170527124035
29/03/20201213151875806101131114317866
05/04/202044066031863050570697975
12/04/202026349722932232461805826
19/04/2020324523239723084661576175
26/04/20203801828865195992397327426129
03/05/2020978284413413134674040539140133
10/05/20206121415792675961889148320921
17/05/2020708161281696988143556019472
24/05/2020862122353214962133365214353
31/05/2020578947342331139804479488
07/06/2020441807239320505992196509
14/06/2020398714231122998766197217
21/06/2020355669216418826763306076
28/06/202038730941114110301135446326740
05/07/202049640681565614658164461137133
12/07/202056746741768617851193859643312
19/07/202068551901993219001218870547701
26/07/202088336241271211717164651531097
02/08/2020130416554627292794430211759
09/08/2020194940941372610930163637532710
16/08/2020361360861838714481220949445270
23/08/2020436468432036416123245671750867
30/08/2020488159111817413291224651645019
06/09/20201039567851979111666197080851415
13/09/20202227388652570015606271599176150
20/09/2020194881278231580221963470109390609
Table A1 and A2: Weekly Referrals for Community Covid-19 Tests by Age and Source

Testing numbers cannot be directly compared with referrals for community testing; there is a significant number of tests completed in hospitals as well as a time lag between referral and test completion. There are also a number of referrals that do not result in a test being completed. However weekly testing numbers from HSE labs and hospitals also show a large increase in tests over the last seven weeks, with 81,463 tests in week ending 18 September - the highest since testing began. As testing has increased, the positivity rate has also risen from a low of 0.2% positive in week ending 24 July to 2.3% positive in week ending 18 August. This is a large decrease on the positivity rate of 23.2% positive in week ending 03 April.

Week EndingTests CompletedPositivity Rate
27/03/2020147818.93714904268994
03/04/20201298823.2445334154604
10/04/20202882415.2303635859006
17/04/20203644918.3187467420231
24/04/20202571916.2642404448073
01/05/2020494646.43902636260715
08/05/2020564953.44278254712806
15/05/2020422593.22061572682742
22/05/2020354362.00361214584039
29/05/2020264411.82670852085776
05/06/2020198281.58866249747831
12/06/2020199900.840420210105053
19/06/2020189900.62664560294892
26/06/2020184210.575430215514901
03/07/2020310540.267276357313068
10/07/2020456380.297997282965949
17/07/2020499250.312468703054582
24/07/2020506280.231097416449396
31/07/2020406520.570697628652957
07/08/2020250431.62919777981871
14/08/2020411391.42443909672087
21/08/2020615651.19873304637375
28/08/2020542741.49979732468585
04/09/2020636971.26850558111057
11/09/2020707811.67276529012023
18/09/2020814632.26360433571069

Deaths

The data produced by the CSO in Table 2 is based on the Actual Date of Death. Using this method, the CSO has found that while the number of people who have died from COVID-19 has remained below 20 for the last 14 weeks, Dublin continues to be the worst hit.

The total number of people who have died from COVID-19 is 1,546, with a further 246 deaths cited as probable deaths linked to the virus. For the week ending 18 September, eight deaths were recorded.

The virus claimed the lives of 36 more men than women up to and including the week ending 18 September. It also continues to impact the older age groups the hardest, with 64% of all confirmed COVID-19 deaths to date in the 80 years old or older age group.

Confirmed Cases

The number of weekly confirmed COVID-19 cases is more than 1,500 cases in each of the last two weeks up to and including 18 September. The total number of confirmed cases is 33,084. The number of cases for the week ending 18 September is 1,504, a decrease of 73 from the previous week.

More than half (55%) of all confirmed cases are now linked to an outbreak. The median age of total confirmed COVID-19 cases is now 45.

Some 3,564 more females were diagnosed with COVID-19 than males.

The 25-44 age group still show the highest number of confirmed COVID-19 cases at 11,487.

In the seven weeks since the beginning of August, 12% of cases have been in the 0 – 14 age group and 22% in the 15 – 24 age group. The over 65 age group account for 8% of cases in the last seven weeks down from 26% of all cases up to the end of July.

The median age of new confirmed COVID-19 cases was 33 years old for the week ending 18 September.

In the last two months, 8% of all cases have been health care workers, down from 33% at end of July.

Dublin accounted for 56% (840) of all new cases for the week ended 18 September and it was the second week in a row that Dublin had more than 800 weekly cases since the beginning of May. Cork is the county with second highest number of new cases at 100 cases, for the week ended 18 September. There were no cases reported in Longford during this latest week.

This is the second week in a row that Clare and Donegal have recorded more than 20 new cases, the third such week for Galway, Louth, Meath, Offaly, Waterford and Wicklow, the fourth such week for Cork, seventh for Limerick and the eighth such week for Kildare.

Hospitalisations

Last week, 82 people were hospitalised, the fifth week in a row that the number of people that were hospitalised has increased. For the second week in a row there have been more than five people admitted to an Intensive Care Unit (ICU). (Note: These figures may need to be adjusted if someone’s condition worsens as there is a time lag between onset of symptoms and hospitalisation.)

Outbreaks

There have been 18,096 positive COVID-19 cases linked to an outbreak, which is defined as two or more cases in the same location and time. Women account for 54% of all cases linked to an outbreak.

The median age of confirmed cases related to an outbreak is 47.

For the week ended 18 September, 51% of cases associated with outbreaks are male, 87% of cases are under 44 years old and 54% were located in private houses.

Dublin made up 38% of all cases linked to an outbreak for the week ended 18 September.

Outbreaks in private houses account for 55% of cases linked to an outbreak in the last seven weeks, while the workplace accounts for 17% of cases linked to an outbreak over this period.

Nursing homes accounted for 4% of all confirmed cases related to an outbreak in the last seven weeks. This has decreased from 44% of cases at the end of July.

Underlying Conditions

There have been 1,474 deaths of people with underlying conditions from 12,104 confirmed cases with underlying conditions. The median age of those dying with underlying conditions is 83.

There were 1,366 deaths of people with underlying conditions in the over 65 age group. Of the 116 deaths in the 25-64 age group, 106 had underlying conditions.

In terms of underlying conditions, chronic heart disease was present in 45% of deaths.

Contacts

The average number of contacts per positive case per week is six in the week ending 11 September up from five two weeks ago. The number of contacts in the 0-14 age group has increased to more than 10 contacts per case in September from just over four in late August.

Electoral Division Analysis

The Electoral Division (ED) analysis in Tables 4 and 4A show that people living in areas where a large proportion (>25%) of the population live in rental accommodation were worst affected by the pandemic accounting for 56% of all cases. For cases confirmed in August and September, this has increased to 59%. Just 20% of cases have been associated with areas with a lower proportion of the population renting despite 27% of the population living in these Electoral Divisions.

The analysis also shows a movement in the income levels of households affected. The CSO has also found those living in EDs where the median household income is €30,000 or less accounted for 4% of all cases since the pandemic began, but in the last two months this group has accounted for 7% of cases. Cases among those living in EDs where the median household income is between €40,000 and €50,000 have increased over this period accounting for 31% of cases in the last two months compared to 26% of all cases since the start of the pandemic. The data also shows that there has been an increase in the proportions of cases in areas of higher working age welfare dependency in the last two months, having accounted for 19% of cases at the end of July, these areas have accounted for 27% of cases in the last seven weeks.

For further COVID-19 related information go to the CSO COVID-19 Information Hub

Table 1 Profile of COVID-19 Deaths and Cases up to and including Friday September 18 2020

Table 2 & 2A Weekly Profile of COVID-19 Confirmed Deaths

Table 3 & 3A Weekly Profile of COVID-19 Confirmed Cases

Table 4 & 4A Weekly Electoral Division (ED) Analysis of Confirmed Covid-19 Cases

Table 5 Average Contacts per Positive COVID-19 case by Age Group

Table 6 & 6A Weekly Profile of New COVID-19 Cases who are Subsequently Hospitalised

Table 7 & 7A Weekly Profile of Confirmed Cases linked to COVID-19 Outbreaks

Table 8 Profile of COVID-19 Patients with Underlying Conditions up to and including Friday September 18 2020

Full statistical tables can be downloaded here:

Table 2: COVID-19 Deaths and Cases Series 12 - Table 2-2A (XLS 24KB)

Table 3: COVID-19 Deaths and Cases Series 12 - Table 3-3A (XLS 30KB)

Table 4: COVID-19 Deaths and Cases Series 12 - Table 4-4A (XLS 28KB)

Table 6: COVID-19 Deaths and Cases Series 12 - Table 6-6A (XLS 20KB)

Table 7: COVID-19 Deaths and Cases Series 12 - Table 7-7A (XLS 37KB)

Table A1 and A2: COVID-19 Deaths and Cases Series 12 - Table A1 and A2 (XLS 13KB)  

 

 

Further Information

Contact
E-mail: Steven.Conroy@cso.ie