COVID INCIDENCE RATE IN MONAGHAN REMAINS HIGH

Michael Fisher

The latest figures for Covid cases show that County Monaghan still has the highest incidence rate in the Republic per 100,000 population over fourteen days. The statistics released on Tuesday by the Health Protection Surveillance Centre show that the rate in the past fortnight up until midnight on Monday was 1026.3, which is more than double the national incidence of 413.2. This includes 630 reported cases of Covid-19 out of a total of 19,677. Monaghan remains top of the list of 26 counties, with Donegal in second place and Louth replacing Cavan in third place. All three are border counties. The numbers in Co. Cavan appear to have decreased over this period and it has dropped down the table to seventh place. Daily figures for Monday from the HSE Department of Public Health North East reflected this trend, with 15 new Covid cases reported in Cavan, compared to 99 in Louth, 59 in Meath and 56 in Monaghan.

INCIDENCE RATE SIMILAR TO NORTHERN IRELAND

The Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan confirmed that the case numbers in border counties such as Monaghan more closely resembled the situation in Northern Ireland than in the rest of the State. However, addressing the Oireachtas joint committee on health yesterday Dr Holohan ruled out regional lockdowns in border counties, but said he shared the concerns of the authorities in Northern Ireland about the high cases numbers there…