The number of Covid-19 cases in the Republic of Ireland jumped by 10% in the last two weeks of November, new figures show.
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) published figures that showed there were 30,243 cases reported in Ireland in the week ending November 26, an increase of 10% from 27,536 in the previous week.
The research also shows that cases among those aged 14 or younger increased by 21% on the previous week and made up 27% of all cases in the week.
Almost one-third of cases were among people aged 25 to 44, while one in 20 were in those aged 65 and over, with cases in the age group 80-plus decreasing by 11% on the previous week.
Dublin, with 10,170, and Cork, with 3,358, had the highest number of new cases for the week ending November 26.
Variations can be seen across counties, with the highest increase in cases noted in Laois, up 28% in a week, while the largest decrease – 27% – was seen in Leitrim.
The latest figures also show that there were 249 people admitted to hospital with confirmed Covid-19 in the week ending November 19, and 190 in the week ending November 26.
Of these, 14 were admitted to ICU in the week ending November 19 and six in the week ending November 26.
People aged 65 and over accounted for half of all those admitted to hospital through the whole period of the pandemic so far, from March 2020 to the end of last month.
Men accounted for 52% of those admitted and 63% of admissions to ICU since the start of the pandemic.
Around 16% of reported cases with a record of employment at the end of last month were employed in the wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles, and 11% in industry.
The CSO stated that cases were generally increasing across all sectors throughout the last two weeks in November, however cases decreased by 13% among those employed in the health and social work sector.
New figures also show there were 29 Covid-19 related deaths, of which 20 were among those aged 65 and older, during the last week of November.
