More than one in 10 people are either Covid-positive or are a close contact of a case in some counties, the Chief Medical Officer has said. Dr Tony Holohan, in a statement yesterday evening, said the virus has “taken root in every single part of the country”“A significant percentage of the population - in excess of 1 in 10 in some counties - is currently either a case or a close contact. There were 60 more deaths and 3,231 new cases confirmed yesterday by Nphet. The UK variant is very likely making our challenge more difficult,” he said. Dr Cillian De Gascun, Director of the National Virus Reference Laboratory, said it is “inevitable” that the UK variant will become the dominant variant here in Ireland over time.

Source: Irish Independent January 17, 2021 12:02 UTC