The level of Covid-19 across the Shannonside FM region has tripled over the last month.
New figures from the Health Protection and Surveillance Centre show 109 new cases registered across the three counties in the last week.
Figures from the first week of December show 35 new cases of the virus confirmed across Leitrim, Longford and Roscommon. While data collected over the last week has shown a 200 percent increase in the levels of positive cases registered with the HSE. Longford, Leitrim and Roscommon had been included in the counties reporting some of the lowest levels of Covid before Christmas. Over the last month those levels have risen, with Leitrim now having the highest local transmission rate of the virus in the region. 25 new cases have resulted in an incidence rate in the county of 78 compared to the national average rate of 63. Longford has the next highest rate of transmission at 53 following 22 new cases this week, that's up from 7 cases recorded at the start of December.
While case numbers in Roscommon tripled over the last four weeks, with 62 cases notified in the last 7 days, compared to 18 in the same period last month.
Nationally, almost three thousand new cases were confirmed in the last number of days, with health experts urging those with symptoms to test and isolate as a priority.]
