It is “too early” to know if a new strain of coronavirus confirmed in Britain has emerged in Ireland, the deputy chief medical officer has said.
Dr Ronan Glynn said Irish public health officials only received formal notification of the new Covid-19 strain on Monday, at the same time as the UK government publicly announced the news.
“We had formal notification of that variant through our official early warning system with European colleagues and the UK, and there's very little information available to us at the moment,” Dr Glynn said at a press briefing.
“There is further epidemiological and virological investigation going on by colleagues in the UK.
“Obviously, we will be interested in the potential effects of this variant in terms of transmission, but it's really too early at this stage to say whether or not it has any such effects.
“We just really need to wait for more information to come out. It's too early at this stage to say whether the variant has been seen in this country,” he added.
Dr Glynn also confirmed two further deaths and 264 new cases of Covid-19 have been recorded in the Republic, bringing the total number of coronavirus-related deaths in the State to 2,126.
Of the new cases, 65 per cent are in people aged under 45, with 79 cases located in Dublin, 24 in Donegal, 19 in Kerry, 18 in Limerick, 14 in Kildare, 14 in Wexford and the remaining 96 cases spread across 16 other counties.
The latest figures show 215 Covid-19 patients are in hospital, with 33 in intensive care.
Counties Donegal and Kilkenny have the highest infection rates in the State.
In Donegal, the 14-day incidence rate per 100,000 population is 225.5 and in Kilkenny it stands at 199.5. The lowest rate is in Leitrim at 25.
Northern Ireland
This comes as health trusts in Northern Ireland said hospitals in the region risk being “overwhelmed” by a January Covid-19 spike.
Several acute centres in the North are already operating beyond capacity.
Flow of patients through hospital has been “seriously impacted” by pandemic restrictions, a joint statement from the chief executives of six organisations which deliver NHS services said.
A further five deaths with Covid-19 were reported in the North on Monday, bringing the toll to 1,129.
The Department of Health was notified of another 419 new cases of the virus.
Hospital occupancy on Monday was 98 per cent, with 429 Covid-19 confirmed inpatients, 31 in intensive care units. – Additional reporting: PA
