Category: Old Donegal

Photo credit: Colm McDaid

A lorry driver and a local family had a lucky escape, following a crash in Newtowncunningham at approximately 7:30 this morning.

Reportedly the lorry skidded off the road, and subsequently struck a house.

While the lorry sustained some damage, it’s believed the house only received minor damage.

The driver of the lorry was taken to Letterkenny University Hospital, with a suspected broken arm and other minor injuries.

Local Councillor Paul Canning says it was fortunate more damage was not caused…

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A local doctor from the NowDOC service says they’ve been inundated with phone calls from members of the public who are seeking a PCR test – even though NowDOC cannot refer them for one.

Dr Martin Coyne says the volume of calls from asymptomatic members of the public trying to use NowDOC to book a PCR test has meant they have had trouble receiving urgent care calls from other patients.

Dr Coyne says that if you are Covid symptomatic, NowDOC can offer advice and treatments – but if you have no symptoms, you should go to your GP, or look online, to book a PCR test….

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A further 16,986 new cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed in the Republic of Ireland today.

804 people are now in hospitals with the virus – a staggering jump of 87 compared to yesterday’s figure.

93 of those patients are now receiving intensive care treatment, up 6.

This day last week, there were just 461 patients hospitalised, making it a rise of 343 hospitalisations in 7 days.

The Saolta University Healthcare Group have advised that the Emergency Department at Letterkenny University Hospital is extremely busy today.

They say that there is currently a high number of patients waiting to be admitted to the hospital, and that those in the Emergency Department are experiencing long wait times.

The public are being asked to only attend the Emergency Department only if they require urgent treatment, and to contact the NowDOC Out-Of-Hours GP service in the first instance if the matter is not urgent.

In a statement, Saolta also said: “We are committed to treating everyone who presents to our ED however we do so strictly in order of medical priority. Given the volume of patients attending the Emergency Department, we regret there will be delays and long wait times for those who do not need urgent treatment”.

The latest figures released by the HSE show that, as of 8 o’clock last night, there are now 54 Covid patients at Letterkenny University Hospital – an increase of 6 compared to the previous day’s total.

The number of Covid patients at LUH is now three times what it was just one week ago – on the same day last week, there were just 18 Covid patients at the hospital.

Also, a total of 11 new infections at the hospital have been confirmed in the last 24 hours – that’s the highest total of new confirmed cases at any hospital in the state.

The head of the HSE’s vaccination programme says boosters for people aged 16 to 29 will remain by appointment as it’s rolled out over the coming days.

A small number of clinics began administering third doses to the cohort today in Tipperary, Clare and Limerick.

The HSE’s Damien McCallion says that will be expanded to more parts of the country over the coming days.

But he also says they won’t be doing booster walk-ins for 16-29 year olds at this point:

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According to the HSE website and the vaccination booking portal, 16-29 year olds can book an appointment for their booster at the Letterkenny Vaccination Centre from Tuesday the 4th of January onwards.

Select pharmacies as well as GPs will also be offering booster vaccines to those in the 16-29 age cohort and above.

You can book a booster vaccine appointment at a vaccination centre here: https://covid19booster.healthservice.ie/hse-self-referral/?flow=booster

The Green Party leader has said changes to the rules around close contacts are being considered by the Government.

It follows calls from employers for the guidelines to be reviewed, due to large numbers of staff having to self-isolate.

Eamon Ryan says the Government also plans to add positive antigen test results to official daily figures.

He says changing close contact rules similar to the US will be looked at in the coming days:

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Met Eireann has issued a status yellow rainfall warning for County Donegal from midnight tonight.

Heavy showers as well as long spells of rain are expected, and Met Eireann has warned the rainfall level could lead to some rivers flooding, as well as localised surface flooding.

The status yellow warning will stay in place until 3pm tomorrow, Monday.

The Inishowen Football League Management Committee, after consultation with all clubs, have decided to delay the restart of the league programme due to the high level of Covid infection in the community.

The fixtures will recommence on Sunday 23rd January.

All clubs within the league were contacted and over 75%  voted to take the course of action of delaying the restart.

The league is the second to do so following an announcement made by the Donegal Junior League on Saturday afternoon.

All Semester 1 in-person exams at the Letterkenny Institute of Technology have been postponed until a later date in the year, due to the rising incidence in Covid cases.

In a statement, LYIT said that all exams that were previously scheduled to be held between Thursday, January 6th and Friday January 21st have now been moved to later in the year.

But, classes will still resume as planned in-person on the 24th of January at LYIT.

The LYIT said that: “Following public health guidance, and in light of the significant increase in Covid-19 cases nationally, the Institute has taken the decision to defer all scheduled in-person examinations until later in the academic year”

“Classes will recommence as scheduled on Monday 24 January. In the meantime, we encourage all staff and students to avail of Covid-19 vaccinations and boosters when they become available”