Concern expressed over rising COVID-19 rate in Roscommon

Roscommon has been name-checked as an area of concern for the growth of coronavirus tonight.

It comes as it emerged that there were 15 confirmed cases of COVID-19 reported in Roscommon over the weekend.

Nationally, tonight, the Department of Health said there had been 390 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 as of midnight, September 27.

There has now been a total of 35,377 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ireland to date.

Roscommon was among four counties singled out by Dr Ronan Glynn, Acting Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health, this evening.

He said: “I am asking everyone, but particularly those living and working in Cork, Galway, Monaghan and Roscommon, to adhere to the public health advice. There is still time to get the virus back under control in these areas, break the chains of transmission and stop the spread of this highly infectious disease in these communities.”

The 14-day incidence rate of COVID-19 per 100,000 population in Roscommon is currently the fifth highest in the country, at 75.9.

Only Donegal (185.3), Dublin (152.9), Louth (104) and Kildare (76.4) have higher rates.

No new deaths were reported to the Health Protection Surveillance Centre during Sunday.

There has been a total of 1,802 COVID-19 related deaths in Ireland.

Of the 390 cases notified 66% are under 45 years of age, 36% are confirmed to be associated with outbreaks or are close contacts of a confirmed case and45 cases have been identified as community transmission

There were 209 cases are in Dublin, 27 in Cork, 22 in Donegal, 21 in Galway,14 in Kildare, 14 in Monaghan, 7 in Roscommon, 7 in Tipperary, 7 in Waterford, 7 in Wexford, 6 in Limerick, 6 in Longford, 5 in Laois, 5 in Meath, 5 in Offaly, 5 in Sligo, with the remaining 23 cases in 8 counties.

Meanwhile, as per the official county breakdown statistics, which cover up to Saturday night, it emerged that there had been eight new cases in Roscommon.

Combined with the seven cases mentioned in the press release by the Department of Health, it means there have been 423 cases in Roscommon.

Westmeath was not mentioned in the figures published tonight, but as of Saturday midnight, there had been three new cases, bringing the total figure to 767.