This evening's NPHET briefing at the Department of Health has heard that there were no additional Covid-related deaths in the last 24 hours and 582 new cases.
Health officials also outlined three examples of how Covid-19 can easily spread between households.
Here are five takeaways from this evening's briefing:
Number of cases linked to schools remains small
The Chair of the Irish Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group has said that the number of cases of Covid-19 being detected in school outbreaks remains "a very small fraction" of the overall number of cases in the population.
Prof Philip Nolan said that those outbreaks do not necessarily mean that the transmission occurred in schools, and that one would expect to see more cases and outbreaks as the weeks go by.
"Nonetheless, the number of cases being detected in school outbreaks remains a very small fraction of the total number of cases in the population," he said.
Prof Philip Nolan says that the number of Covid-19 cases being detected in school outbreaks remains "a very small fraction" of the total number of cases in the population | https://t.co/gaWKT5uDYd pic.twitter.com/LQFq2dUivy
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) March 18, 2021
Static case count due to higher mobility
Prof Nolan said that Covid-19 case counts and some other indicators of the disease are static or have plateaued.
He said that there is no specific pattern across age groups under 65, and that all age groups are making their own contribution to the incidence of disease.
"To my mind, and from evidence, you can quite clearly trace that relatively constant case count to an increase in mobility, congregation and social mixing," he said.
Prof Philip Nolan says that the case numbers and other indicators of Covid are static. He says that there is no specific pattern across age groups under 65, the constant case count over the last ten days can be traced to increased mobility, congregation | https://t.co/gaWKT5uDYd pic.twitter.com/PjT6HDVtNd
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) March 18, 2021
Prof Nolan said the static rate of hospital admissions, between 20 and 25 per day since the beginning of March, is concerning.
Prof Philip Nolan says both 5 and 7-day average case counts have been static for about a week. In terms of hospital admissions, he says the number per day is also static - between 20 and 25 - since the start of March. He says that this is a concern | https://t.co/gaWKT5uDYd pic.twitter.com/mHHQlYAP8l
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) March 18, 2021
Marginal changes could avert another wave
Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr Ronan Glynn urged people to "do just that little bit more" over the next few weeks in order to avoid another wave of Covid-19.
"Go back to where you were a fortnight, three weeks ago" he said.
"If we can get back to that, if every individual can do just that little bit more over the next few weeks we will stop another wave and we will get to a point where we will have a sufficient portion of the population vaccinated… "
Deputy CMO Dr Ronan Glynn says they are asking everyone to do just a little bit more than what they are doing. "If every individual can do just that little bit more over the next few weeks we will stop another wave," he says | https://t.co/gaWKT5uDYd pic.twitter.com/0JNBBZ2TW0
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) March 18, 2021
Prof Nolan added that the current trends are due to a marginal increase in social contacts, and that if we can reduce those again we will see the trends reversing.
Prof Philip Nolan: "If it's a marginal increase in our contacts that are causing the current problem, it's a marginal decrease that we need to do and we could reverse the trend." | https://t.co/gaWKT5uDYd pic.twitter.com/8Cpgo8w7f5
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) March 18, 2021
'Conservative' advice coming for vaccinated people - Glynn
The Deputy Chief Medical Officer has said that advice will be issued in the coming fortnight for people who have received their Covid-19.
Dr Ronan Glynn said that the advice will be conservative because vaccines are not 100% protective at an individual level and because there are high levels of disease in the community.
Deputy CMO Dr Ronan Glynn says that advice will be issued in the coming fortnight for people who have received their Covid-19 vaccine | https://t.co/gaWKT5uDYd pic.twitter.com/pT1OEScFig
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) March 18, 2021
No significant change to advice on non-essential travel
In relation to non-essential travel, Dr Ronan Glynn said that he does not see advice changing significantly in the short term.
He said there is significant uncertainty with the deteriorating situation internationally and the emergence of variants across Europe.
Dr Glynn said that until we have a significant portion of the population vaccinated, the key thing we have to guard against is importation of variants.
He also said that the focus over the next couple of months will have to be on outdoors. He said that we need to be cautious and avoid another wave of Covid-19 between now and June.
Dr Ronan Glynn says that the focus over the next couple of months really will have to be on outdoors. He says we need to be cautious and avoid another wave of the disease between now and June | https://t.co/gaWKT5uDYd pic.twitter.com/OBqgvRhz6l
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) March 18, 2021
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