Key Findings:
This is the seventeenth 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 27 November 2020.
Referrals and Testing
There were 56,341 referrals for community testing where a valid reservation was recorded in the week ending 27 November. Referrals for testing have decreased in the last week, in particular among the 25 – 44 age groups, which has fallen from 23,023 to 20,362 in the week ending 27 November. Some 48% of referrals were from GPs in the week ending 27 November. New analysis on referral speciality type shows that while Healthcare/ Essential worker referrals for testing have remained consistent for the last number of weeks all other specialty type referrals have all decreased since the end of 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 there were 75,601 tests completed in the week ending 27 November. The positivity rate in the week ending 27 November was 2.6% down from 3.5% the previous week.
Confirmed Cases
For the week ending 27 November, the number of weekly cases is 1,637 a decrease of 535 from the previous week. This is the first week since the beginning of September where there have been less than 2,000 confirmed cases. The total number of confirmed cases to date is 72,417.
Dublin accounted for almost a third (526) of all new cases for the week ending 27 November and it was the fourth week in a row that Dublin had less than 1,000 weekly cases since the beginning of September. Donegal is the county with the second highest number of new cases at 159 cases, for the week ending 27 November.
The median age of new confirmed COVID-19 cases was 35 years old for the week ending 27 November.
In the week ending 27 November, 188 of confirmed cases were among health care workers.
Since the start of the pandemic, some 4,136 more females were diagnosed with COVID-19 than males and over half (55%) of all confirmed cases are linked to an outbreak.
The 25-44 age group still show the highest number of confirmed COVID-19 cases at 23,526, however from Figure 1 we can see that the percentage of cases in the 65–79 and 80+ age categories has been increasing in recent weeks, these age groups made up 13% of cases in the week ending 27th November up from less than 5% in week ending 7th August.
Week | 0-14 years | 15-24 years | 25-44 years | 45-64 years | 65-79 years | 80 years and over |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
07/08/2020 | 8 | 19 | 44 | 24 | 4 | 1 |
14/08/2020 | 12 | 21 | 38 | 23 | 4 | 2 |
21/08/2020 | 10 | 27 | 36 | 21 | 5 | 2 |
28/08/2020 | 12 | 21 | 36 | 23 | 6 | 2 |
04/09/2020 | 13 | 21 | 36 | 21 | 5 | 4 |
11/09/2020 | 13 | 22 | 33 | 23 | 7 | 2 |
18/09/2020 | 11 | 24 | 32 | 23 | 8 | 3 |
25/09/2020 | 10 | 25 | 32 | 24 | 7 | 2 |
02/10/2020 | 9 | 25 | 34 | 24 | 6 | 3 |
09/10/2020 | 9 | 29 | 32 | 22 | 6 | 2 |
16/10/2020 | 14 | 26 | 30 | 22 | 6 | 2 |
23/10/2020 | 14 | 23 | 29 | 24 | 7 | 3 |
30/10/2020 | 16 | 19 | 29 | 24 | 7 | 5 |
06/11/2020 | 14 | 18 | 31 | 25 | 7 | 5 |
13/11/2020 | 15 | 17 | 31 | 24 | 7 | 6 |
20/11/2020 | 16 | 22 | 30 | 20 | 7 | 5 |
27/11/2020 | 17 | 18 | 30 | 22 | 7 | 6 |
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 1,637 confirmed cases in the week ending 27 November, 81 have been admitted to hospital and less than five people to ICU.
From Figure 2, Hospitalisation, Mortality and ICU rates have remained relatively stable since July, however as cases in older groups have increased in recent weeks, the hospitalisation rate rose to 58 in November. The overall ICU admission rate is nine per 1,000 confirmed cases. (Note: It is important to note that there is a time lag between onset of symptoms and hospital admission. Also note that November rates are provisional).
Mortality Rate | Hospitalisation Rate | ICU Rate | ||
March | 48 | 192 | 27 | |
April | 74 | 142 | 11 | |
May | 41 | 140 | 10 | |
June | 38 | 121 | 0 | |
July | 0 | 63 | 0 | |
August | 5 | 39 | 4 | |
September | 6 | 48 | 5 | |
October | 6 | 37 | 4 | |
November | 8 | 58 | 4 |
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 the number of people who have died from COVID-19 has been greater than 30 for each of the last five weeks, Dublin continues to be the worst hit.
Since the start of the pandemic, the total number of people who have died from COVID-19 in Ireland is 1,798, with a further 255 deaths cited as probable deaths linked to the virus. For the week ending 27 November, 33 deaths were recorded.
The virus claimed the lives of 82 more men than women up to and including the week ending 27 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 below ten per 1,000 since August. The mortality rate for November was eight per 1,000 confirmed cases. (Note: These figures may need to be revised as there is a time lag between onset of symptoms and death.)
Outbreaks
Since the start of the pandemic, there have been 39,650 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.
Donegal, Galway and Wicklow made up 33% of all cases linked to an outbreak for the week ending 27 November.
For the week ending 27 November, 33% of cases linked to an outbreak are under 25 years old.
Outbreaks in private houses account for 43% of cases linked to an outbreak in the last four weeks, hospitals account for 16%, nursing homes account for 10% while childcare facilities and schools together account for 6% of cases linked to an outbreak in this period.
Underlying Conditions
Since the start of the pandemic, there have been 1,682 deaths of people with underlying conditions from 18,365 confirmed cases with underlying conditions. The median age of those dying with underlying conditions is 83.
There were 1,562 deaths of people with underlying conditions in the over 65 age group. Of the 129 deaths in the 25-64 age group, 119 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 27 November, down from four contacts per case in early October. This implies details of just under 5,000 close contacts were recorded in the week. In the 15-24 age group the number of contacts per case is four in the week ending 27 November.
For further COVID-19 related information go to the CSO COVID-19 Information Hub
Full statistical tables can be downloaded here:
Table 2: COVID-19 Deaths and Cases Series 17 - Table 2-2A (XLS 29KB)
Table 3: COVID-19 Deaths and Cases Series 17 - Table 3-3A (XLS 36KB)
Table 4: COVID-19 Deaths and Cases Series 17 - Table 4-4A (XLS 36KB)
Table 6: COVID-19 Deaths and Cases Series 17 - Table 6-6A (XLS 24KB)
Table 7: COVID-19 Deaths and Cases Series 17 - Table 7-7A (XLS 49KB)
Table 9: COVID-19 Deaths and Cases Series 17 - Table 9 (XLS 17KB)