The first coronavirus vaccinations will be carried out today.

Up to 500 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine are expected to be given to patients at Cork University Hospital, Beaumont and St James’s hospitals in Dublin and University Hospital Galway as the rollout begins.

It’s a rare piece of good news in a week that has seen a steep rise in the positivity rates in community testing with a seven day average of over 9.2 per cent, up from 5.2 per cent on December 18th.

Lower levels of testing over Christmas have led to an artificially low number of 765 confirmed cases in the past 24-hours, with doctors braced for a major surge in case numbers this week.

Not something I tweet lightly but after a busy day working with Southdoc, it is clear that we are seeing community spread of Covid in our area, across all age groups. Limiting indoor social contacts, hand washing and mask wearing all work and are more important than ever now. MH

— Market Place Surgery (@kinsalegp) December 28, 2020

Chief Medical Officer at the Department of Health Tony Holohan has warned the public to stay at home, revealing that Ireland has now “exceeded the cumulative number of people hospitalised in this third wave than in the second.”

“Hospitalisations have increased sharply in the last two days. This is a concerning trend which reflects the sharp increase in incidence we saw in the last 10 days,” he said.

“This indicates that the virus is increasing its foothold out in our communities. This is just one more reason why we are strongly advising everyone to stay safely at home to avoid transmitting or catching this virus, as it continues to circulate widely.

‘Protect the most vulnerable’

Dr Holohan urged anyone feeling unwell to come forward for testing.

“Know the symptoms of COVID-19, and do not delay in phoning your GP for advice.” he said.

“Self-isolate in your room if you have a cough, fever, shortness of breath or change in sense of taste/smell. If you are a household contact of a confirmed case you should restrict your movements for 14 days even if your own test is reported as COVID “not detected”.

“In addition to staying at home except for essential reasons, these important individual actions will help to stop the exponential spread of COVID-19 in our communities and in turn protect the most vulnerable, our healthcare system and those who work on the frontlines.”