New testing high
There were 6,064 cases in the week ending 16 October, an increase of 674 from the previous week.
Just over a quarter of these were in Dublin, and this was the fifth week in a row in which Dublin logged more than 1,000 cases. Cork was the county with the second highest number of new cases at 799.
The median age of cases in the most recent week was 31 years old.
Weekly testing numbers from HSE labs and hospitals show that testing hit its highest level of 100,183 tests in the week ending 16 October. The positivity rate climbed to 7%, up from 4.5% the previous week.
The CSO says referrals for testing have increased in the last two weeks, in particular among the 15-24 age group, rising from 12,744 to 18,855 in the week ending 16 October.
Hospitalisations
On 21 October there were 324 patients with COVID-19 in hospital, with 35 in ICU, which compares to peaks of 881 and 155 respectively in mid-April.
Of cases last week, 129 people were hospitalised, the third week in a row that this number has been greater than 100. For the sixth week in a row there have been more than five people admitted to an ICU.
The overall hospitalisation rate is 95 people per 1,000 confirmed cases. This was highest in March at 192 per 1,000 confirmed cases, but was down to 44 in September.
The overall ICU admission rate is 10 per 1,000 confirmed cases. This was also highest in March at 28 per 1,000 confirmed cases, but the figures for August and September were four and five respectively.
Deaths
64% of the 1,618 confirmed COVID-19 deaths to date have come in the 80 years old or older age group. Another 223 deaths are cited as probably being linked to the virus.
The overall mortality rate is 31 per 1,000 confirmed cases. This was highest in April at 74 per 1,000 but had dropped to five per 1,000 in August and September.
The CSO warns, however, that these figures may need to be revised as there is a time lag between onset of symptoms and death.
The CSO figures show that the average number of contacts per positive case per week was falling in early October. In the week ending 9 October, the number was four, down from six per case four weeks ago. The number of contacts in the 15-24 age group has decreased to five contacts per case in October from just over 10 in August.