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COVID Deaths and Cases

From 28 February 2020 to 02 April 2021

CSO statistical release, , 11am

COVID-19 Insight Bulletins: Deaths and Cases, Series 28

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

Key Findings:

  • The proportion of daily cases among those over the age of 65 has been decreasing for a number of weeks with the percentage of cases in this age group falling from 18% in the week ending 29 January to 6% in the week ending 02 April
  • There were 71 health care workers diagnosed with the virus in the week ending 02 April, this is the lowest weekly figure since the week ending 21 August 2020
  • There were 29 COVID-19 related deaths in the week ending 02 April 2021
  • In the week ending 02 April 2021, 86% of deaths were among people aged 65 years and over
  • In the same week, Dublin accounted for 1,337 cases or 44% of all new cases
  • Hospitalisations have been decreasing since the week ending 15 January and were 103 in the week ending 02 April from a peak of 1,391
  • Throughout the whole period of the pandemic from March 2020 to week ending 02 April 2021, the over 65 age category accounted for 55% of all persons hospitalised
  • ICU admissions have been decreasing since the week ending 08 January and there were less than five in the week ending 02 April, down from a peak of 133
  • The average number of contacts per positive case per week was three in the week ending 02 April. Dublin and Offaly were the counties with the highest average number of contacts per positive case at four for the week
Table A: Weekly Profile of COVID-19 1,2,3,4
  
 15/0122/0129/0105/0212/0219/0226/0205/0312/0319/0326/0302/04*
Total Cases18,81510,8148,2256,6475,6255,1314,2643,3083,6013,7463,8163,010
             
% over 6516%16%18%15%11%11%10%8%8%9%7%6%
             
% asymptomatic15%18%17%22%24%25%24%26%25%23%27%30%
             
Number in hospital at week end1,8461,9691,5521,258959754574426344336317264
             
Number in ICU at week end18721821318117315313610086876662
             
Total confirmed COVID-19 deaths3154074233482521791226551453529
             
* latest week is preliminary
1 Table includes data as of 7th April 2021 for events created on CIDR (Computerised Infectious Disease Reporting) up to midnight Friday 2nd April 2021 and https://covid-19.geohive.ie/ and is subject to revision
2 Cases data are defined by epidemiological date which is the earliest of onset date, date of diagnosis, laboratory specimen collection date, laboratory received date, laboratory reported date and event creation/notification date. Deaths data are defined by date of death
3 Hospitalisation numbers include those admitted to hospital due to COVID-19 and those who contracted COVID-19 while in hospital
4 Deaths include those who died of COVID-19 and those who died with COVID-19

 

This is the twenty-eighth 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 2020 to 02 April 2021.

Deaths

For the week ending 02 April, 29 deaths were recorded among confirmed COVID-19 cases.

Throughout the pandemic, most deaths have occurred in the older age groups. In the week ending 02 April 2021, 86% of deaths were in people aged 65 years and over.

There were 16 deaths in Dublin in the week ending 02 April. No other counties recorded more than five deaths in the week.

From Table B we can see the overall mortality rate is 19 per 1,000 confirmed cases. This was highest in April 2020 at 77 per 1,000 confirmed cases. The mortality rate was 4 per 1,000 in March 2021, down from 13 in February 2021. (Note: These figures may need to be revised as there is a time lag between onset of symptoms and death.)

Confirmed Cases

For the week ending 02 April, the number of weekly cases was 3,010, a decrease of 21% from the previous week.

Those aged 25-44 made up 34% of confirmed cases in the week ending 02 April with those aged 65 and over making up 7%.

There were 71 health care workers diagnosed in the week ending 02 April, this is the lowest weekly figure since the week ending 21 August 2020.

Dublin accounted for over two-fifths (1,337) of all new cases for the week ending 02 April and it was the second week in a row that weekly cases in Dublin have fallen. Kildare was the county with the second highest number of new cases (176) for the week ending 02 April.

0-14 years15-24 years25-44 years45-64 years65-79 years80 years and over
05/02794110421121657518462
12/02880111218181223369223
19/02809109215791092333226
26/027518651314926239168
05/03598613111670720371
12/03720713117770022367
19/03934525128966923792
26/03997548131470519062
02/04726475102459613950

Figure 2 shows how although the number of new cases has fallen nationally by 21%, this varies across counties from a 62% decrease in Kilkenny to a 107% increase in Monaghan.

% change
Carlow-42
Cavan-7
Clare-53
Cork41
Donegal-53
Dublin-17
Galway-23
Kerry38
Kildare-26
Kilkenny-62
Laois11
Leitrim-45
Limerick-39
Longford-44
Louth-31
Mayo10
Meath-27
Monaghan107
Offaly-40
Roscommon-7
Sligo-33
Tipperary-44
Waterford-22
Westmeath6
Wexford-40
Wicklow-29

Hospitalisations

Hospitalisations have been decreasing since the peak of 1,391 in the week ending 15 January to 103 hospitalisations in the week ending 02 April. ICU admissions have also decreased from the peak of 133 in the week ending 08 January to less than five in the week ending 02 April. 

Throughout the whole period of the pandemic from March 2020 to week ending 02 April 2021, the over 65 age category accounted for 55% of all persons hospitalised.

From Table B, it can be seen that the hospitalisation rate was 49 and the ICU rate was four per 1,000 confirmed cases in March 2021 (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.)

Mortality RateHospitalisation RateICU Rate
March4515625
April7711513
May4111010
June401010
July0400
August4264
September7365
October7354
November18746
December9324
January22575
February13696
March4494
Table B: COVID-19 Mortality, Hospitalisation and Intensive Care Unit (ICU) admission rates (per 1,000 confirmed cases) by Month
 All cases
 20202021 
 MarchAprilMayJuneJulyAugustSeptemberOctoberNovemberDecemberJanuaryFebruary March*All months
               
Mortality Rate45774140..4771892213419
Intensive Care Unit (ICU) Rate251310....454645646
Hospitalisation Rate15611511010140263635743257694957
             
Hospitalisation Rate by age              
0-24 years633925..37811811912171413
25-44 years6944366816161417301320342924
45-64 years1411029412666305038693347746055
65-79 years401284378347108111157156308122204288223213
80 years and over427176274127..290215275433265288363474283
* latest month is provisional
1 Table includes data as of 7th April 2021 for events created on CIDR (Computerised Infectious Disease Reporting) and is subject to revision
2 Cases defined by epidemiological date which is the earliest of onset date, date of diagnosis, laboratory specimen collection date, laboratory received date, laboratory reported date and event creation/notification date

 

Contacts

In Table 5, the average number of contacts per positive case per week was three in the week ending 02 April 2021. This implies details of more than 9,000 close contacts were recorded in the week.

Dublin and Offaly were the counties with the highest average number of contacts per positive case at four for the week ending 02 April 2021.

Outbreaks

Public Health report outbreaks to HPSC and link cases to these outbreaks. Public Health are prioritising the reporting of outbreaks in key settings e.g. RCFs, hospitals. Therefore, the number of private house outbreaks is underestimated. Similarly, while every effort is being made to link cases to outbreaks as quickly as possible, there can sometimes be a delay in linking cases to the outbreak.

From Table 7 it can be seen that in the last four weeks 4,930 cases have been linked to an outbreak. The under 24 age group made up 41% of all cases linked to an outbreak over this period. There were 1,798 cases (36%) linked to an outbreak in private houses and 585 cases (12%) linked to an outbreak in the workplace in the last four weeks.

Also 122 (2%) cases were in nursing homes, 280 (6%) were in hospital or a community hospital/long-stay unit and 216 (4%) were in residential institutions.

Referrals and Testing

In Table 9, there were 95,790 referrals for community testing where a valid reservation was recorded in the week ending 02 April. Referrals for testing increased in the last week and there was an increase, from 28,454 to 35,891, in referrals among the 25 – 44 age group. Some 60% of referrals were from GPs in the week ending 02 April, this is a decrease from 79% in the week ending 01 January. Analysis on referral speciality type shows that general COVID-19 testing has increased by 6,152 and healthcare / essential worker testing has increased by 7,563 in the week ending 02 April.

Weekly testing numbers from HSE labs and hospitals show there were 128,935 tests completed in the week ending 02 April. The positivity rate in the week ending 02 April was 3.2%, down from 3.7% the previous week.

Industry of Employment

In Table 10, the CSO has used Revenue PAYE Modernisation system data to provide insight on employment status of COVID-19 cases. Using pseudonymised keys over 80% of CIDR cases could be linked to administrative data sources, of these approximately 50% had a record of employment. As well as the strict legal protections set out in the Statistics Act, 1993, and other existing regulations, we are committed to protecting individual privacy and all identifiable information from each of the data sources used in our analysis, such as name, date of birth and addresses, are removed before use and only anonymised statistical aggregates are produced.

By matching the month the COVID-19 case is reported to a record of employment in that month (or most recently available record of employment, currently January for cases reported in February, March and April) the results attempt to reflect the industry of an employee when they became a positive case in the CIDR system. However, this does not indicate that the case is linked to an outbreak in the workplace.

In Figure 4, it can be seen that 19% of reported cases with a record of employment in the week ending 03 April were employed in the Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles sector. The Human health and social work activities and Public administration and defence; compulsory social security sectors combined now account for 17% of cases, down from 25% in the week ending 30 January.

Cases week ending 03 April 2021
Agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)1
Industry (B-E)11
Construction (F)6
Wholesale and retail trade (G)19
Transportation and storage (H)5
Accommodation and food service activities (I)6
Information and communication (J)3
Financial, insurance and real estate activities (K-L)6
Professional, scientific and technical activities (M)5
Administrative and support service activities (N)9
Public administration and defence (O)8
Education (P)7
Human health and social work activities (Q)9
Other nace activities (R-U)3
Unknown2
Open in Excel:

Underlying Conditions

HPSC are currently reviewing underlying conditions data and for this reason information on underlying conditions has not been included in this bulletin. We will resume reporting on underlying conditions as soon as possible, following completion of this review.

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 April 02 2021

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 and County

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

Table 10: COVID-19 cases with Employment Information

Full statistical tables can be downloaded here:

Table 2: COVID-19 Deaths and Cases Series 28 - Table 2-2A (XLS 37KB)

Table 3: COVID-19 Deaths and Cases Series 28 - Table 3-3A (XLS 47KB)

Table 4: COVID-19 Deaths and Cases Series 28 - Table 4-4A (XLS 50KB)

Table 6: COVID-19 Deaths and Cases Series 28 - Table 6-6A (XLS 27KB)

Table 7: COVID-19 Deaths and Cases Series 28 - Table 7-7A (XLS 63KB)

Table 9: COVID-19 Deaths and Cases Series 28 - Table 9. (XLS 20KB)

 

Further Information

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