Major hospitals in Munster are at 'crisis point' with Covid-19 cases soaring and large numbers of staff unavailable due to infection or being close contacts.
According to the Irish Examiner, 800 staff from hospitals in Cork and Limerick were off duty this week due to Covid-19 related reasons while many patients are waiting on trolleys in Cork University Hospital and University Hospital Limerick.
The two hospitals are the worst affected by Covid-19 in the country.
CUH had 145 Covid-19 patients yesterday while UHL had 150. This included 26 patients in intensive care between the two facilities.
Meanwhile, a former head of the HSE says the next five to seven days will be the most challenging period of the entire Covid-19 pandemic.
50 Covid-related deaths were reported yesterday, and former director-general of the HSE, Tony O'Brien, says the coming days will be even worse.
Mr O'Brien said: “We know there's a week to 10 day lag between someone testing positive and the likely time they'll go to hospital, there's a further period after that where those who have been hospitalised are likely to deteriorate.
“Unfortunately, the figures we were seeing last weekend mean that the week ahead and possibly the week after that are going to be the most challenging times for our health system and therefore likely to increase higher numbers of bad outcomes, by which I mean an increase in the number of deaths.”
