Key Findings:

• There were 21 COVID-19 related deaths in the week ending 17 September 2021
• For the week ending 17 September, the number of weekly cases was 8,662, a decrease of 8% from the previous week
• Those under the age of 44 accounted for 76% of cases in the week ending 17 September 2021
• Leitrim, Longford, Roscommon, Sligo and Wicklow had the fewest cases, less than 100 cases in each county, in the same week
• Hospitalisations have been decreasing since the week ending 27 August and were 111 in the week ending 17 September
• The Construction sector saw a 16% rise in case numbers from the previous week
• In nine out of ten Local Electoral Areas (LEAs) more than 80% of the population aged 12 and over were fully vaccinated up to 09 September 2021

 

This is the thirty-second 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 the CoVax system provided by the Health Service Executive (HSE). This Bulletin covers the period from 28 February 2020 to 17 September 2021.

Deaths

For the week ending 17 September, 21 deaths were recorded among confirmed COVID-19 cases.

Throughout the pandemic, most deaths have occurred in the older age groups. In the week ending 17 September 2021, 86% of deaths were in people aged 65 years and over.

Cork recorded six deaths in the week ending 17 September 2021, the only county to record more than five deaths in the week.

Confirmed Cases

For the week ending 17 September, the number of weekly cases was 8,662, a decrease of 8% from the previous week.

Those aged 0-14 made up 34% of confirmed cases in the week ending 17 September with those aged 65 and over making up 7%.

Dublin accounted for almost a third (2,657) of all new cases for the week ending 17 September.

Cork was the county with the second highest number of new cases (755) for the week ending 17 September.

Leitrim, Longford, Roscommon, Sligo and Wicklow had the fewest cases, less than 100 cases in each county, in the same week.

Hospitalisations

Hospitalisations have been decreasing from 241 in the week ending 27 August to 111 hospitalisations in the week ending 17 September. There were 31 ICU admissions in the week ending 12 September and 23 in the week ending 17 September.  (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.)

Throughout the whole period of the pandemic from March 2020 to the week ending 17 September 2021, the over 65 age categories accounted for 53% of all persons hospitalised.

Since the start of the pandemic, 53% of those hospitalised were male and males accounted for 64% of those admitted to ICU.

Sector 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 identifiers more than 80% of confirmed cases in the CIDR database could be linked to administrative data sources, and 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 July 2021 for cases reported in September); a further adjustment has been made to account for those coming off the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) scheme. 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 Table 10, it can be seen that 16% of reported cases with a record of employment in the week ending 18 September were employed in the Wholesale & Retail Trade; Repair of Motor Vehicles & Motorcycles sector. The Human Health & Social Work Activities sector now accounts for 14% of cases, up from 7% in the week ending 24 July. 

In Figure 3, it can be seen that cases have fallen across most sectors in line with falling cases in the community, however the Construction sector saw a 16% rise in case numbers week-on-week.

Vaccinations

In this bulletin, the CSO has included for the first time an analysis of vaccination rates across the country on 09 September 2021. It can be seen from Figure 4 and Table B that in 90% of Local Electoral Areas (LEAs), more than 80% of the population aged 12 and over are fully vaccinated (received both doses or single dose where applicable).

Rates of full vaccination tend to be lower along the border with Northern Ireland and in LEA’s with a more urban population. In Dublin, higher rates are seen in LEA's to the south and east of the county.

Please see the Vaccination Data FAQ for further information.

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 32 - Table 2-2A (XLS 42KB)

Table 3: COVID-19 Deaths and Cases Series 32 - Table 3-3A (XLS 51KB)

Table 6: COVID-19 Deaths and Cases Series 32 - Table 6-6A (XLS 33KB)