Laois in the top five counties for highest Covid-19 spread

Covid-19 testing centre at St Fintan's Health Campus on Portlaoise's Dublin road is the venue for a five day asymptomatic pop-up test centre

placeholder image — Covid-19 testing centre at St Fintan's Health Campus on Portlaoise's Dublin road is the venue for a five day asymptomatic pop-up test centre

The Covid-19 spread has sped up in Laois which has catapulted the county into the top five counties with the highest incidence of the disease in Ireland.

The Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) tracks the spread of the disease for NPHET.

Latest figures published by the HPSC run to midnight November 4. They show that there were 480 officially confirmed cases in the week since October 29. This gave a seven day incidence of 566.7 per 100k.

There were 784 new cases since October 22, giving a 14 day incidence of 925.7 per 100k.

Just over 61% of new Covid-19 infections occurred in the week to November 4 according to the HPSC figures.

The Laois seven and 14 day incidences are above the national averages. There are 80 new cases a day on average over five days in Laois.