Only one-sixth of nursing home residents to die from coronavirus died in an acute hospital, new figures the Department of Health’s National Public Health Emergency Team show.
The more detailed statistics show the extent to which residential care and nursing homes have had to deal with deaths of their residents within the homes.
As of Tuesday, almost half the total 1,159 laboratory-confirmed or probable deaths from the virus, also known as Covid-19, occurred in residential community facilities and nursing homes.
Figures show that almost 18 per cent of nursing home residents infected with the disease have died, reflecting the higher mortality rate among people over the age of 65.
The residential care and nursing home sector has borne the brunt of the coronavirus pandemic in the country accounting for almost 60 per cent of all Covid-related deaths.
The State's chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan said that 680 of the 1,159 lab-confirmed and probable Covid-19 deaths were community residential facilities and nursing home residents.
Just 122 of the 680 deaths occurred in an acute hospital, he said at the department’s daily briefing on Tuesday evening.
Nursing homes accounted for 579, or 50 per cent, of the 1,159 total reported deaths and 95, or 16 per cent, of the 579 deaths were in an acute hospital, Dr Holohan said.
There were a reported 362 clusters of infection – each defined as two or more cases – in residential care facilities, including 218 in nursing homes.
This accounts for just over 40 per cent of the 540 nursing homes in the country, comprising 420 privately owned homes and 120 HSE-run nursing homes.
There are about 29,000 residents in nursing homes and about 30,000 staff.
Testing
More widespread testing of nursing home residents and staff over the past week has led to an increase in the reported number of people in nursing homes diagnosed with coronavirusat the department’s daily emergency team briefings.
The department said there were 4,155 cases in community residential facilities, of which 3,277 were in nursing homes.
As the test results come in from nursing homes, the percentage of nursing home residents to have been hospitalised by the disease has declined.
Some 335 residents of community residential facilities, or 8.1 per cent of the 4,155 cases in community residential facilities, were hospitalised.
Of the nursing home figures, some 225, or 6.9 per cent, of the 3,277 people infected with Covid-19 were hospitalised.
