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COVID Deaths and Cases

From 28 February to 13 November 2020

CSO statistical release, , 11am

COVID-19 Insight Bulletins: Deaths and Cases, Series 16

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

Key Findings:

  • While the case numbers have fluctuated since August to October from a low of 623 in week ending 07 August to a high of 7,025 in week ending 16 October, the hospital rates, ICU rates and mortality rates have remained stable over the same period.
  • The average mortality rate in August, September and October was 5 people per 1,000 confirmed cases, down from a peak of 74 per 1,000 in April
  • The average hospitalisation rate in August, September and October was less than 50 people per 1,000 confirmed cases, down from a peak of 192 per 1,000 in March
  • The average ICU rate in August, September and October was 5 or less per 1,000 confirmed cases, down from a peak of 27 per 1,000 in March
  • The number of cases for the week ending 13 November is 2,363, a decrease of 517 from the previous week
  • The median age of new confirmed COVID-19 cases was 36 years old for the week ending 13 November
  • More than 20 people have died from COVID-19 in each of the last five weeks
  • The median age of COVID-19 Deaths has remained relatively stable at approximately 83 years throughout the duration of the pandemic
  • It is the second week in a row that Dublin had less than 1,000 weekly cases. In week ending 13 November, Dublin accounted for 28% of all new cases
  • Just over half (52%) of all confirmed cases are linked to an outbreak and 42% of cases linked to an outbreak are under 25 years old
  • Outbreaks in private houses account for 53% of cases linked to an outbreak in the last four weeks, nursing homes account for 10% while childcare facilities and schools together account for 8% of cases
  • The average number of contacts per positive case per week was three in the week ending 13 November

This is the sixteenth publication in our 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 13 November 2020.

Referrals and Testing

There were 61,904 referrals for community testing where a valid reservation was recorded in the week ending 13 November. Referrals for testing have decreased in the last week, in particular among the 25 – 44 age groups, which has fallen from 24,525 to 23,576 in the week ending 13 November. Some 47% of referrals were from GPs in the week ending 13 November.

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 there were 77,518 tests completed in the week ending 13 November. The positivity rate in the week ending 13 November was 3.5% down from 4.3% the previous week.

Confirmed Cases

The number of weekly confirmed COVID-19 cases is less than 3,000 cases for the second week in a row up to and including 13 November. The total number of confirmed cases is 68,122. The number of cases for the week ending 13 November is 2,363, a decrease of 517 from the previous week.

Dublin accounted for over a quarter (669) of all new cases for the week ending 13 November and it was the second week in a row that Dublin had less than 1,000 weekly cases since the beginning of September. Limerick is the county with the second highest number of new cases at 203 cases, for the week ending 13 November.

Just over half (52%) of all confirmed cases are linked to an outbreak.

Some 4,029 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 22,210.

In the week ending 13 November, 363 of confirmed cases were among health care workers.

The median age of new confirmed COVID-19 cases was 36 years old for the week ending 13 November. From Figure 1 The median age of new cases has decreased from 49 in April and has been below 40 since July. Despite this drop in the median age of cases, the median age of hospitalisations and ICU increased between August and October. The median age of deaths has been stable over the nine months of the pandemic around the median for all deaths of 83.

Week EndingConfirmed CasesDeathsHospitilisedICU
March48815860
April49836560
May44836765
June43835360
July33835360
August33834960
September33785364
October32817272
November36837066

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 3,428 cases were admitted to hospital, a further 95 of these were admitted to ICU. In comparison, of the 2,363 confirmed cases in the week ending 13 November, 117 have been admitted to hospital and less than five people to ICU.

The overall hospitalisation rate is 86 people per 1,000 confirmed cases, this was highest in March at 192 per 1,000 confirmed cases and is 37 in October. The overall ICU admission rate is nine per 1,000 confirmed cases, this was also highest in March at 27 per 1,000 confirmed cases and is three per 1,000 in October. (Note: It is important to note that there is a time lag between onset of symptoms and hospital admission. Also note that October rates are provisional).

Mortality RateHospitalisation RateICU Rate
March4819227
April7414111
May4114010
June381210
July0630
August5394
September5475
October5373
Table A: COVID-19 Mortality, Hospitalisation and Intensive Care Unit (ICU) admission rates (per 1,000 confirmed cases) by Month

Deaths

CSO has revised its methodology of recording deaths in line with HPSC advice. Following a review, 23 deaths were removed from the confirmed deaths time series.

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 the number of people who have died from COVID-19 has been greater than 20 for each of the last five weeks, Dublin continues to be the worst hit.

The total number of people who have died from COVID-19 is 1,721, with a further 251 deaths cited as probable deaths linked to the virus. For the week ending 13 November, 27 deaths were recorded.

The virus claimed the lives of 69 more men than women up to and including the week ending 13 November. 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 25 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 September and October. (Note: These figures may need to be revised as there is a time lag between onset of symptoms and death.)

Outbreaks

There have been 35,727 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 40.

For the week ending 13 November, 28% of cases linked to an outbreak are under 25 years old.

Cork, Donegal, Galway and Roscommon made up 32% of all cases linked to an outbreak for the week ending 13 November.

Outbreaks in private houses account for 53% of cases linked to an outbreak in the last four weeks, nursing homes account for 10% while childcare facilities and schools together account for 8% of cases linked to an outbreak in this period.

Underlying Conditions

There have been 1,605 deaths of people with underlying conditions from 17,136 confirmed cases with underlying conditions. The median age of those dying with underlying conditions is 83.

There were 1,488 deaths of people with underlying conditions in the over 65 age group. Of the 127 deaths in the 25-64 age group, 116 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 three in the week ending 13 November, down from six contacts per case six weeks ago. This implies details of more than 7,000 close contacts were recorded in the week. The number of contacts in the 15-24 age group has increased to four contacts per case in the week ending 13 November, down from just over six in early October.

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 November 13 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 November 13 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 16 - Table 2-2A (XLS 28KB)

Table 3: COVID-19 Deaths and Cases Series 16 - Table 3-3A (XLS 35KB)

Table 4: COVID-19 Deaths and Cases Series 16 - Table 4-4A (XLS 35KB)

Table 6: COVID-19 Deaths and Cases Series 16 - Table 6-6A (XLS 23KB)

Table 7: COVID-19 Deaths and Cases Series 16 - Table 7-7A (XLS 47KB)

Table 9: COVID-19 Deaths and Cases Series 16 - Table 9 (XLS 15KB)

 

Further Information

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