ABSTRACT
This study reviewed the epidemiology of confirmed cases of coronavirus disease 2019 notified in the department from 5 March-13 June 2020. The first case of COVID-19 in our region was notified on 05/03/2020;by 13/06/2020 a total of 1,842 confirmed cases had been notified, representing 7.3% of cases nationally for that period. Epidemiological curves (epi-curves) were constructed using 'epidemiological date' (epi-date) and 'notification date'. These epi-curves are more closely aligned from May 2020 onwards, which likely reflects expedited testing/reporting processes. Of note the HSE South 'epi-date' curve diverges downwards from the national pattern in late-March 2020, which is early in the overall evolution of the pandemic in Ireland. In our study 1,115 cases (60.5%) occurred through 'local transmission', 482 (26.2%) in a healthcare setting;471 (25%) occurred via 'community transmission';137 (7.4%) were imported. Contact tracing was conducted for >4000 'close contacts' of confirmed cases. One-hundred-and-twenty-eight outbreaks were recorded, with 1,259 outbreak-associated cases, occurring in various settings including;private house(56), nursing home (11), residential institution (21), hospital (9), workplace (8), community hospital/long-stay unit (6), unknown (0) and other (17). Outbreaks occurred most commonly in private houses (56, 43.8%). The highest number of outbreak-associated cases was related to workplace-based outbreaks (324, 25.7%).