A 79-year-old Dublin woman will become the first person in Ireland to be vaccinated against Covid-19 today.
Grandmother of 10, Annie, will receive the vaccine at St James Hospital.
Vaccines will also be administered in Beaumont, Cork and Galway University hospitals today.
Just under 10,000 vaccines have already arrived in the country, with a delivery of a further 30,000 due this afternoon.
409 people are in hospital with Covid-19 today – the highest in over seven months.
It’s 49 more than yesterday, after 36 patients were admitted in the space of 24 hours.
The peak during the second wave, in October, was 354, and NPHET says hospitalisations are increasing ‘earlier and faster’ in the third wave.
Taoiseach Micheal Martin is urging the public to redouble their efforts:
“I think a lot depends on behaviour. All our individual behaviour and collective behaviour, irrespective of what setting we find ourselves in. I think that is the key to stopping the spread of COVID.
“I think we all have to redouble our efforts in terms of reducing our contacts, keeping our social distance, wearing masks and doing the very basics as comprehensively and effectively as we can. I think that’s the best way to keep COVID at bay.”
Meanwhile, of yesterday’s 765 new cases in Ireland, less than five of those were in Tipperary.
In the last fortnight, there have been 149 cases in the Premier County and the incidence rate here is now at 93.4 per 100,000 people, which is well below the national average of 220.1.
