There have been 1,015 cases of Covid-19 confirmed by the Department of Health in the republic of Ireland today. There are 178 people in our hospitals; 29 of whom are being treated in intensive care units.
In Northern Ireland, in the last 24-hour, there have been 1,082 new cases of the virus reported by their Department of Health. Sadly, 6 more patients have lost their lives. There are 224 Covid positive patients in hospital today, of whom 37 remain in intensive care.
Figures north and south bring to 2,097, the number of Covid-19 cases on the island of Ireland, in the past 24 hours.
The Republic of Ireland’s hospitality rules have greatly helped Covid-19 vaccination rates to surpass Northern Ireland’s, the NI’s chief scientific advisor has stated. Some 76% of Ireland’s adult population are now fully vaccinated, compared to 72.1% in Northern Ireland.
An Taoiseach Mr Micheál Martin has stated that a deal has been completed to secure an additional 700,000 Covid-19 vaccines from Romania. Mr Martin has described this transaction as being “fantastic news and a welcome boost to our rollout, which continues to experience huge support and uptake from the Irish public.”
Staff at the HSE has been delighted by the number of people who attended ‘walk-in Covid-19 vaccination centres’ over the bank holiday weekend, with more than 30,000 people availing of the service.
Covid Situation Abroad
Israel will now begin to offer a third dose of Covid vaccinations to people aged over 60, their Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has announced. Those who got their second jab at least five months ago, will be eligible for a Pfizer booster from Sunday next, he confirmed. This now comes amid a surge in infections in Israel, and concern in many countries over the highly contagious Delta variant.
In China, authorities in the city of Wuhan, latter with a poppulation of some 11 million people; which shot into the spotlight after the coronavirus was first detected there in 2019, will again begin testing its entire population, after a number of positive coronavirus cases were detected there.
In India, the southern state of Kerala accounts for more than half of the country’s new Covid-19 infections. Infections here show no signs of abating even as the pandemic wanes in other parts of the country.
Leaders in America are also scrambling to account for a surge in Covid cases and a rise in hospital admissions. The Centre’s for Disease Control and Prevention have announced that masks should once again be worn indoors, for both the vaccinated and those unvaccinated.
The state of Louisiana has eight times more Covid cases than it did just four weeks ago, while the state of Arizona has also re-instituted a recommendation to again wear masks indoors, despite a person’s vaccination status.
In Baxter County, Arkansas, the vaccination rate is just 33%, and now remains one of that nation’s Covid-19 hotspots.
Meanwhile, back in Ireland, Fr. Tony Flannery, the co-founder of the Association of Catholic Priests, has strongly reacted to the decision of a number of senior Catholic Bishops to allow First Communion and Confirmation ceremonies to go ahead, amid the spread of the new Covid-19 varient.
Fr. Flannery has stated that he could not understand the decision by the bishops, given that the matter would possibly be no longer an issue within five or six weeks. He warned that the ceremonies and accompanying celebrations would inevitably contribute to the spread of the Delta variant.
For many children and their families it was not the sacrament that was important, it was the social events afterwards and the gifts of money they will acquire. He pointed out that bishops must surely be aware that there was a commercial side to such events that “cheapened” such ceremonies.
Fethard, Co. Tipperary based priest Fr. Iggy O’Donovan is in total agreement and believes that in a few week’s time the country would be in a much stronger position due to our current rates of vaccination.
Around 4,000 people here in Co.Tipperary still remain in receipt of Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) this week, a drop of some 700 in the past 7 days. Nationally, a total of 160,000 people are receiving PUP this week; the lowest figure recorded since the pandemic first began.
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