County Louth has the highest rate of coronavirus infection in Ireland currently, as the number of people contracting Covid remains high across the island.
As of November 15th, Louth had a 14-day incidence rate of 1,624.7 per 100,000 people. The national average for the Republic was 1,160.7. The smallest county saw 2,094 confirmed Covid cases over the past two weeks.
Leitrim was the second-worst affected county with an incidence rate of 1,566.6 per 100,000 people.
Counties Westmeath and Carlow are also experiencing high infection rates, with a 14-day incidence of 1,551.2 and 1,508.8 respectively.
Waterford had an incidence rate of 1,551.2 per 100,000 people.
On an all-island basis, the Derry and Strabane council area had the lowest infection rate, recording 717.3 cases per 100,000. Belfast follows with a rate of 742.4.
Monaghan had the lowest number of Covid cases in the Republic with an incidence of 785.2.
The majority of people who tested positive in the State over the past two weeks were aged 19-54. Of all cases, 17.2 per cent were among people aged 35-44, and the median and mean age of those contracting Covid was 34.
A total of 8,107 children aged 5-12 were infected with the virus in the past two weeks, representing 14.7 per cent of all cases.
On Tuesday, the Government announced new measures in an effort to curb the spread of the disease.
People will now be advised to work from home, and the phased return to the office has been paused. Bars and nightclubs will also have to close at midnight from Thursday, just a month after the 11.30pm curfew was lifted. The Government is planning to expand the use of antigen tests.
Household members of a confirmed case will be asked to restrict their movements for five days and to take three antigen tests under the new guidelines.
