More than 1,000 people died of Covid-19 in January.

After a month that saw more than 100,000 people diagnosed with coronavirus across the country, Dr. Tony Holohan, Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health, has urged the public to adhere to the lockdown rules for the next five weeks.

A further 1,414 new cases were confirmed in the past 24 hours, with 79 additional deaths from the disease.

Of the new cases, 608 are in Dublin, with 105 in Cork, 96 in Galway, 65 in Meath, 59 in Donegal and the remaining 481 cases spread across all other counties.

Right now, 1,492 Covid-19 patients are hospitalised, of which 211 are in ICU.

“We have experienced over 1,000 deaths and more than 100,000 cases in January 2021,” said Dr Holohan.

“We have reported more cases in one month than we experienced throughout 2020. This shows just how quickly this disease can spread and how much it can impact public health.”

The next few weeks need to see us maintain compliance with all of the measures that are in place so that we can get to levels of the disease that are as low as possible.

— Dr Tony Holohan (@CMOIreland) January 30, 2021

Dr Holohan said that, while the efforts by the population in following the basic public health advice has seen the incidence of the disease reduce very rapidly compared to most countries in Europe, there is a great deal more work to be done.

“Despite the recent, significant decrease in cases, there remains a level of infection in the population which is double that seen at the peak of incidence last October.” Dr Holohan said.

“The next few weeks need to see us maintain compliance with all of the measures that are in place so that we can get to levels of the disease that are as low as possible.”