The Central Statistics Office (CS0) has created a COVID-19 Information Hub which has been developed and is maintained by the CSO. It reports on the changing state of aspects of Ireland's economy and society since the COVID-19 outbreak.
Today the CSO is publishing a number of updates on the Information Hub on COVID-19 Deaths and Cases, Credit and Debit Card Usage and the Retail Sales Index.
Today sees the publication of the second in a series of bulletins providing insights on the people who have died from COVID-19 or have been diagnosed with the virus. This has been published under the theme of Health.
The CSO’s analysis has found that the virus is moving from our cities into large towns. The people living in our cities were worst affected accounting for more than 50% of all confirmed cases. This has been decreasing over the last number of weeks and those living in cities now represent 44% of cases.
While the trend in cases is down everywhere since the peak week of 17 April 2020, spikes can be seen in weekly figures for counties Offaly, Westmeath, Longford, Cork, Tipperary, Clare and Limerick, since that date.
Looking at the Standardised Death Rate (SDR), which is the death rate of a population adjusted to a standard age distribution, the CSO found it was highest in least deprived areas. (Table 5)
This is also reflected in the Electoral Division profiles of confirmed cases in Table 4, where the CSO has found that 25% of cases are in areas of lower income, where the household median income is less than €40,000, despite 30% of the population living in these areas. Whereas those living in households where the median income is €60,000 or more accounted for more than 23% of cases while making up 18% of population. However, this has changed over the weeks with the number of cases in households with higher incomes falling from 25% and the incidence of cases in lower income households rising from 20% of cases in the early weeks.
Enquiries:
Kieran Culhane, Statistical System Co-ordination Unit
There is also an update on the Information Hub on credit and debit card usage. This has been published under the theme of the Economy.
It notes that credit and debit card spending has rebounded strongly, rising by more than 37% between mid-April and end-May.
During the first week of March (pre-COVID-19 restrictions), €1,488 million was spent on debit and credit cards (including ATM withdrawals), and by 16 April this had fallen by 41% to €875 million. By the week ending 25 May, spending on debit and credit cards had increased to €1,199 million, an increase of 37% from 16 April.
ATM withdrawals indicate the use of cash to pay for goods and services. During the first week of March, €368 million was withdrawn at ATMs and this fell by 60% to €147 million by 16 April. By 25 May it had recovered in part to €209 million. However, even with this partial recovery in ATM transactions, withdrawals remain significantly lower compared with the first week in March, with a decrease of 43% in the amount of cash withdrawn and the number of transactions is down by almost 53%.
Enquiries:
Barra Casey, Prices - (+353) 86 369 4715
The Retail Sales Index is also published today on the COVID-19 Information Hub under the theme of the Economy.
It found the volume of retail sales decreased by 35% in April 2020 when compared to March 2020 on a seasonally adjusted basis. This is the largest monthly decrease since January 2009.
The only sectors to show a volume increase between March and April 2020 were Food, Beverages & Tobacco in specialised stores (excluding Supermarkets) +1.8% and Non-Specialised Stores (including Supermarkets) +1.6%.
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