Coronavirus Ireland: 46 deaths and 3,086 new Covid-19 cases

It brings the total number of Covid-19 related deaths in Ireland to 2,397 while there have now been 155,591 confirmed cases.

Validation of data at the Health Protection Surveillance Centre has resulted in the denotification of 34 confirmed cases, resulting in an adjusted total of 155,591.

Two deaths occurred in December 2020 while the remaining 44 died in January 2021.

There were 158 Covid-19 patients in intensive care in Ireland this afternoon, the highest figure recorded since the start of the pandemic.

A total of 1,692 people are now in hospital with the illness, 128 were hospitalised in the past 24 hours.

The breakdown of cases is as follows:

• 1,425 are men / 1,642 are women
• 54% are under 45 years of age
• The median age is 42 years old
• 604 cases are in Galway, 574 in Dublin, 466 in Mayo, 187 in Cork, 138 in Limerick and the remaining 1,117 cases are spread across all other counties.

In an appeal to the public earlier today, HSE CEO Paul Reid said: "Nobody wants more people sick with #COVID19.

"The big ask of everyone is to stay at home and help get our hospitals and nursing homes back to safer levels. Our healthcare teams ask just this of us."

Dr Tony Holohan, Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health said: “Unfortunately this evening we are seeing the effect of the recent surge of infections reflected in the increased mortality we are reporting.

"Unfortunately, due to the unsustainably high level of Covid-19 infection we have experienced as a country over the past few weeks, sadly these figures are likely to continue for the next period of time.

"What we can do today, out of respect of those who have lost their lives and those currently in hospital or ICU - and those caring for them - is to hold firm and stay home.”

A further 22 deaths with coronavirus have been reported in Northern Ireland bringing the region’s toll to 1,498.