Eight further Covid-19 related deaths have been confirmed in the Republic of Ireland along with 4,929 additional cases.
Over 150,000 people have now tested positive for Covid-19 in the country since the beginning of the pandemic.
Today's additional cases bring the overall number recorded in the Republic to 152,539. There has been a total of 2,352 Covid-19 related deaths in Ireland.
Of the cases notified today:
- 2,250 are men / 2,641 are women.
- 59 per cent are under 45 years of age.
- The median age is 39 years old.
- 1,513 cases are in Dublin, 695 in Cork, 320 in Limerick, 305 in Wexford, 225 in Galway and the remaining 1,871 cases are spread across all other counties.
As of 2pm today, 1,582 Covid-19 patients are in Irish hospitals, of which 146 are in ICU. 156 additional Covid-19 cases were reported in Irish hospitals in the last 24 hours.
Chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan said: “While we are seeing the first glimmer of hope in respect of our daily case figures and positivity rates, the situation in hospitals and ICUs around the country continues to worsen day on day. We know that hospitalisations occur some weeks after a confirmed case is notified, and mortality after that again. That means we are unfortunately set for a period of time where the situation in our hospitals gets worse before it gets better.”
He added: “The best way forward now is for all of us to stay at home. Staying at home and cutting your contacts right down to only those in your immediate household is the one vital way we will protect our healthcare system as it struggles with the burdens brought on by this surge in Covid-19 infections.”
Dr Michael Power, HSE clinical lead for intensive care, said: “Over the past weeks, we have seen a swift and sharp spike in admissions into critical care units across the country. As of this morning, we have 146 people sadly in ICU. This is nearing the springtime peak of 155 people in critical care. The potential long-term impacts on these patients’ health is stark and significant. ICUs are not where we want anyone to be. They are our very last line of defence against C. The best way we can protect our ICU capacity and those that work in them is to stay at home.”
Meanwhile, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar has said at least six factors led to the current third wave of Covid-19 engulfing the country.
Mr Varadkar told RTÉ Radio One’s Today with Claire Byrne show that the factors included household visits, domestic travel, non-compliance, a new variant of the virus and international travel.
He said it was possible that restrictions during the second wave of the virus came too soon, giving the public and the Government a false sense of security heading into Christmas.
Mr Varadkar acknowledged it was legitimate to ask if the country should have loosed restrictions to Level 3 in December at all.
There was also a lot of non-compliance with the restrictions in place over the Christmas period he added, including shebeens, wakes and people flying in from abroad.
