University Hospital Galway is encouraging people to get vaccinated as it deals with a high number of Covid-19 patients.
It is treating 32 people who have the virus, which is a significant increase on recent weeks.
Yesterday, 1,866 new cases of Covid-19 were confirmed in the Republic with 314 patients in hospital, including 61 in ICU — the highest number since April 3rd.
Saolta chief clinical director Pat Nash says the Delta variant is causing a spike in cases in University Hospital Galway and others in the west.
Mr Nash said: “We've seen a big increase in the last week from right across the group, not just in Galway but throughout the whole region right up to Letterkenny.”
He added: “I think with rising numbers in the community we've seen the effect coming into hospitals, we've had an outbreak on one of the wards in the hospital. That reflects the Delta variant, it is very transmissible and the likelihood of it spreading rapidly is very high.”
