*Photograph: John Mangan
A reduction in the amount of new COVID-19 cases both in Clare and the total figure in the Republic of Ireland has been recorded.
Despite the drop, figures remain higher than previous waves. 110 new cases have been diagnosed in Co Clare with a total of 4,842 across the country, 1,049 in Dublin, 530 in Cork, 514 in Waterford, 405 in Wexford, 247 in Louth and the remaining 1,987 cases are spread across all other counties.
Clare’s 14 day incidence rate per 100k of the population has risen to 1198.5 which is an all-time high during the pandemic. It remains above the national rate of 1162.2.
An additional nine deaths have been notified to the Health Protection Surveillance Centre.
As of 2pm on Saturday, 119 persons hospitalised as a result of the virus were in critical care. A further 1,174 were receiving hospital treatment. 102 hospitalisations were recorded in the past 24 hours.
Following validation by the HPSC, figures for Co Clare announced yesterday (Friday) have showed an increase, albeit not as sharp as the rise noted on Friday for Thursday’s figures. 264 as opposed to 253 new cases were diagnosed on Friday. This plus the provisional data released on Saturday means 780 people in Clare tested positive for Coronavirus in the space of 72 hours.