Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 15 September 2020
82. Deputy James Lawless asked the Minister for Health if he will ensure more regular publication of localised statistics on Covid-19, especially in view of the significantly differing incidence of the virus within counties. [23431/20]
View answerSince the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) met for the first time, a commitment was given to collect and publish as much relevant data as possible while ensuring individual patient confidentiality is maintained at all times. While the nature and scale of the Covid-19 pandemic has been unprecedented, the collection of timely and comprehensive data has been instrumental in developing the health service response to Covid-19 and to the advice provided by NPHET and the Department of Health to assist Government decision-making in the wider response to the disease in Ireland.
Comprehensive national statistics, information and data about Covid-19, including a timeline of confirmed cases by date, is published on a daily basis on the Department of Health website at https://www.gov.ie/en/organisation/department-of-health/ and on the Covid-19 Data Hub and Dashboards available at https://covid19ireland-geohive.hub.arcgis.com/. The published data are based on official figures provided by the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) and the Health Service Executive (HSE).
All datasets, charts and maps are updated on an on-going basis and in line with newly published data. Data in relation to COVID-19 confirmed cases at electoral division level are updated on a regular basis. However, the Deputy should note that care is required to ensure patient confidentiality is preserved and that no potential identification of individual patients arises. As a result, the data relating to confirmed cases by electoral division is not updated on as frequent a basis as the other data on the Data Hub.
The Deputy may also wish to note that a range data on the epidemiology of Covid-19 in Ireland is also published in the daily report by the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) available at https://www.hpsc.ie/a-z/respiratory/coronavirus/novelcoronavirus/casesinireland/epidemiologyofcovid-19inireland.
