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COVID Deaths and Cases

From 28 February to 16 October 2020

CSO statistical release, , 11am

COVID-19 Insight Bulletins: Deaths and Cases, Series 14

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

Key Findings:

  • More than 10 people have died from COVID-19 for each of the last six weeks
  • The number of weekly confirmed COVID-19 cases is more than 5,000 cases in each of the last two weeks up to and including 16 October
  • More than 100 people have been hospitalised from COVID-19 for each of the last three weeks
  • The number of cases for the week ending 16 October is 6,064, an increase of 674 from the previous week
  • The median age of new confirmed COVID-19 cases was 31 years old for the week ending 16 October
  • Women and those aged between 25-44 continue to account for the highest number of confirmed cases while, since July, those aged over 80 account for 2% of cases compared to 20% in March
  • Dublin made up 26% of all new cases, a total of 1,555 cases, for the week ending 16 October and it is the fifth week in a row that Dublin had more than 1,000 weekly cases
  • More than half (51%) of all confirmed cases are now linked to an outbreak
  • Outbreaks in private houses account for 54% of cases linked to an outbreak in the last four weeks, extended family accounts for 9% while childcare facilities and schools together account for 5% of cases
  • Those living in disadvantaged areas have been disproportionality impacted by the pandemic
  • Health care workers now make up 3% of cases compared to a peak of 36% in April
  • The average number of contacts per positive case per week was four in the week ending 09 October

This is the fourteenth 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 Swiftcare (A2i) and Covid Care Tracker (CCT) systems. This Bulletin covers the period from 28 February to 16 October 2020.

Referrals and Testing

There were 98,118 referrals for community testing where a valid reservation was recorded in the week ending 16 October. Referrals for testing have increased in the last two weeks in particular among the 15 – 24 age group, which has risen to 18,855 from 12,744 in the week ending 16 October. Some 64% of referrals were from GPs in the week ending 16 October.

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. Several referrals also do not result in a test being completed. However, weekly testing numbers from HSE labs and hospitals show that testing hit its highest level of 100,183 tests in the week ending 16 October. The positivity rate in the week ending 16 October was 7% up from 4.5% the previous week.

Confirmed Cases

The number of weekly confirmed COVID-19 cases is more than 5,000 cases in each of the last two weeks up to and including 16 October. The total number of confirmed cases is 50,845. The number of cases for the week ending 16 October is 6,064, an increase of 674 from the previous week.

More than half (51%) of all confirmed cases are now linked to an outbreak. The median age of total confirmed COVID-19 cases is now 43.

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 17,063.

The median age of new confirmed COVID-19 cases was 31 years old for the week ending 16 October.

In the week ending 16 October, 187 of confirmed cases were among health care workers.

Dublin accounted for more than a quarter (1,555) of all new cases for the week ended 16 October and it was the fifth week in a row that Dublin had more than 1,000 weekly cases since the beginning of April.

Cork is the county with the second highest number of new cases at 799 cases, for the week ended 16 October.

Week0-14 years15-24 years25-44 years45-64 years65-79 years80 years and over
04/09/20201292183642185640
11/09/202022036453537811938
18/09/202022749066147417553
25/09/202023760279059016152
02/10/2020277784106374819796
09/10/2020484157217011201305125
16/10/2020788160317991392331149

Hospitalisations

Table 6 shows weekly hospitalisations and admission to Intensive Care Units (ICU), these are dated using the epidemiological date of infection and so can be compared with confirmed cases. The peak week for admissions to hospitals was the week ending 27 March when 688 of the 3,438 cases were admitted to hospital, a further 95 of these were admitted to ICU. In comparison, of the 3,165 confirmed cases in the week ending 02 October, 104 have been admitted to hospital and 13 to ICU. Ireland's COVID-19 Data Hub ( https://covid-19.geohive.ie/ ) reports statistics on COVID patients in hospital and ICU on a daily basis, which shows a similar trend to the weekly admissions reported in Table 6, allowing for the delay between onset of symptoms and admission to hospital. On 21 October there were 324 COVID patients in hospital with 35 in ICU, which compares to peaks of 881 and 155 respectively in mid April.

Of cases last week, 129 people were hospitalised, the third week in a row that the number of people hospitalised has been greater than 100. For the sixth week in a row there have been more than five people admitted to an ICU.

The overall hospitalisation rate is 95 people per 1,000 confirmed cases, this was highest in March at 192 per 1,000 confirmed cases and is 44 in September. The overall ICU admission rate is 10 per 1,000 confirmed cases, this was also highest in March at 28 per 1,000 confirmed cases and is four people per 1,000 cases in August and five per 1,000 in September. (Note: It is important to note that there is a time lag between onset of symptoms and hospital admission. Also note that September rates are provisional).

Table A: COVID-19 Mortality, Hospitalisation and Intensive Care Unit (ICU) admission rates (per 1,000 confirmed cases) by Month

Deaths

The results produced by the CSO in Table 2 are 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 been greater than 10 for each of the last six weeks, Dublin continues to be the worst hit.

The total number of people who have died from COVID-19 is 1,618, with a further 223 deaths cited as probable deaths linked to the virus. For the week ending 16 October, 24 deaths were recorded.

The virus claimed the lives of 56 more men than women up to and including the week ending 16 October. 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.

From Table A we can see the overall mortality rate is 31 per 1,000 confirmed cases, this was highest in April at 74 per 1,000 confirmed cases but has been five per 1,000 in August and September. (Note: These figures may need to be revised as there is a time lag between onset of symptoms and death.)

Outbreaks

There have been 25,688 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 51% of all cases linked to an outbreak.

The median age of confirmed cases related to an outbreak is 43.

For the week ending 16 October, 48% of cases linked to an outbreak are under 25 years old.

Cork, Dublin and Galway made up 46% of all cases linked to an outbreak for the week ending 16 October.

Outbreaks in private houses account for 54% of cases linked to an outbreak in the last four weeks, extended family accounts for 9% while childcare facilities and schools together account for 5% of cases linked to an outbreak in this period.

Underlying Conditions

There have been 1,531 deaths of people with underlying conditions from 14,938 confirmed cases with underlying conditions. The median age of those dying with underlying conditions is 83.

There were 1,417 deaths of people with underlying conditions in the over 65 age group. Of the 129 deaths in the 25-64 age group, 112 had underlying conditions.

In terms of underlying conditions, chronic heart disease was present in 44% of deaths.

Contacts

The average number of contacts per positive case per week is four in the week ending 09 October, down from six contacts per case four weeks ago. This implies details of more than 21,000 close contacts were recorded in the week. The number of contacts in the 15-24 age group has decreased to five contacts per case in October from just over 10 in August.

Electoral Division (ED) Analysis

An analysis using the 2016 Pobal HP Deprivation Index has been added to the Electoral Division (ED) analysis in Tables 4 and 4A. This shows that people living in EDs defined as very disadvantaged and disadvantaged have accounted for 41% of all cases since the pandemic began despite making up 37% of the population. Those living in EDs defined as affluent or very affluent have accounted for 35% of all cases since the pandemic began despite making up 40% of the population.

The trends have been changing over the months of the pandemic where as a proportion of confirmed cases those in affluent areas were most impacted in March, June and July and those in disadvantaged areas were worst hit in August and September. In recent weeks, cases have begun to increase again among those living in affluent areas.

MonthFirst quintile - Very disadvantagedSecond quintile - DisadvantagedThird quintile - AverageFourth quintile - AffluentFifth quintile - Very affluent (least deprived)Unknown
March17212124124
April2126212066
May142718181410
June10221926203
July10232030152
August18311621131
September15231925162
October13242226131

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 October 16 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 October 16 2020

Table 9: Weekly Referrals for Community COVID-19 Tests, Tests Completed and Positivity Rate

Full statistical tables can be downloaded here:

Table 2: COVID-19 Deaths and Cases Series 14 - Table 2-2A (XLS 26KB)

Table 3: COVID-19 Deaths and Cases Series 14 - Table 3-3A (XLS 32KB)

Table 4: COVID-19 Deaths and Cases Series 14 - Table 4-4A (XLS 33KB)

Table 6: COVID-19 Deaths and Cases Series 14 - Table 6-6A (XLS 22KB)

Table 7: COVID-19 Deaths and Cases Series 14 - Table 7-7A (XLS 43KB)

Table 9: COVID-19 Deaths and Cases Series 14 - Table 9 (XLS 14KB)

 

Further Information

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