The Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) has today been notified of 25 additional deaths related to COVID-19.

5 deaths occurred in March,13 occurred in February and 6 in occurred January or earlier (there is one death where the date of death is under investigation).

There has been a total of 4,357** COVID-19 related deaths in Ireland.

As of midnight, Tuesday 2 March, the HPSC has been notified of 566 confirmed cases of COVID-19. There is now a total of 221,189 confirmed cases in Ireland.

Of the cases notified today 68% are under 45 years of age and the median age is 34 years old. 233 are in Dublin, 37 in Kildare, 30 in Meath, 25 in Donegal, 24 in Westmeath and the remaining 217 cases are spread across all other counties.

As of 8am today, 489 COVID-19 patients are hospitalised, of which 114 are in ICU. 29 additional hospitalisations in the past 24 hours.

And as of 28 February, 439,782 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in Ireland:

– 297,899 people have received their first dose

– 141,883 people have received their second dose

Dr Ronan Glynn, Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health said: “Through the hard work and sacrifice of the vast majority of people, key disease indicators continue on a positive trajectory. However, we are still seeing outbreaks in the community, including those linked to extended families, workplaces and funerals. We need to keep up our guard against the B117 variant of COVID-19, which we know is dominant in Ireland at present and highly transmissible.

“Our willingness to stick with the public health advice in our daily routine has brought us the progress that we can see today. Together, through staying at home as much as possible, social distancing, hand washing and wearing face coverings, we can continue to drive down the spread of COVID-19.”

Validation of data at the HPSC has resulted in the denotification of 1 death. The figure of 4,357 reflects this. Validation of data has also resulted in the denotification of 7 confirmed cases. The figure of 221,189 confirmed cases reflects this.

Today’s cases, 5-day moving average of new cases, 14-day incidence rate per 100,000 population and new cases in last 14 days (as of midnight 02 March 2021):