WITH Covid-19 cases remaining stubbornly high in the area, the Mayors of Donegal County Council and Derry/Strabane Council have called for compliance.
Three local electoral areas of Donegal have recorded some of Ireland’s highest Covid-19 rates in the past two weeks, with 84 new cases recorded in the county yesterday.
Donegal has Ireland’s highest 14-day incidence rate.
The Letterkenny, Milford and Buncrana regions are among the 10 worst-affected areas in Ireland for Covid-19 between 6th-19th April.
The Letterkenny electoral area now has Ireland’s fourth-highest Covid-19 incidence rate. A total of 97 new cases were diagnosed in the area in the past fortnight, bringing the 14-Day incidence rate to 327 per 100k of the population – two times the national average.
The Milford area has Ireland’s sixth highest rate, while Buncrana LEA has Ireland’s seventh highest incidence rate in recent weeks.
The Mayors on both sides of the border, Cllr Rena Donaghey and Cllr Brian Tierney have urged people to act responsibly and to adhere to the restrictions in place by staying local.
Their message comes with the weather set to improve considerably over the weekend and with various restrictions having been lifted.
They said that while they appreciated there was apathy out there among the public it was important people understood the virus is here and is still spreading.
In a joint statement the Mayors said: “We fully understand how difficult the past year has been for everyone. We have been separated from our loved ones, prevented from paying our respects to our dead and restrictions placed on our social interactions, unfortunately the rate of infection in both our Council areas continues to cause us concern. We are seeing some of the restrictions being lifted and steps taken to allow us to return to some level of normality however we are appealing to the people of Derry, Strabane and Donegal to continue to give us your support by staying local, avoiding unnecessary journeys and visits to beauty spots outside of your area and to continue to reduce your social contacts. By working together we can hopefully look forward to a brighter future.
“We are seeing some great progress in terms of the roll out of the vaccination programme and the reduced number of people being hospitalised or dying from the virus however we cant become complacent and need to be aware of new variants and the fact the virus is out there and being transmitted through our communities.
“If you are out and about this weekend enjoying the sunny weather then please keep your guard, stay local and reduce the number of people you interact with.
“Always social distance and remember to wash your hands, wear a face covering and be respectful of others so we can get through this together. By taking these steps and acting responsibly we can all play our part in preventing the spread of the virus across our region.”
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