OVER TEN PER CENT of all coronavirus-related deaths in Ireland occurred, incredibly, during the last week of January, figures have revealed.
Statistics released from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) shows just how much case numbers throughout the country, and indeed the nation's death toll, has surged over the past month or so.
317 people died as a result of Covid-19 in the week ending January 29, bringing the total number of deaths reported in Ireland since the start of the pandemic to 3,054.
Perhaps just as remarkably, the number of cases identified in the Ireland throughout the entire pandemic doubled in the space of a month recently.
On Thursday, the 200,000th case of Covid-19 was diagnosed, but frighteningly, 100,000th was only identified on January 4.
This means that it took just over 10 months for the first 100,000 cases to be happen - with the first reported case of Covid-19 in Ireland being identified on February 29 last year - but took just 30 days to reach 200,000.
Other analysis of Covid-19 cases and deaths from February 2020 to January 2021 found that Ireland's overall mortality rate is 16 deaths per 1,000 confirmed cases.
This mortality rate was highest in April 2020, at 77 deaths per 1,000 confirmed cases. In January 2021, the mortality rate was 13 deaths per 1,000 cases.
64% of all confirmed Covid-19 deaths to date have occurred among those aged 80 or older.
Underlying health conditions remains a key factor in the vast majority of all Covid-related fatalities.
CSO statistics also show that since the onset of the pandemic, there have been 2,504 deaths of people with underlying conditions from 28,326 confirmed cases with underlying conditions.
2,320 of those deaths were of people in the over 65s group, while the median age of those dying with underlying conditions is 83-years-old.
Of the 222 deaths that have occurred in Ireland in the 25 to 64 age group, 183 had underlying conditions.
