Ireland logged a further 12,875 cases of Covid-19 on Thursday, according to the Department of Health.
6,061 cases were confirmed by PCR test, while 6,814 positive antigen test results were uploaded to the HSE portal. The Department has cautioned that self-registered test results are not directly comparable with laboratory PCR-confirmed cases.
There were 610 patients hospitalised with the virus as of this morning, with 63 people in intensive care.
A total of 117,416 PCR tests were completed over the past seven days, with a positivity rate of 30.4 per cent. It comes as a further 12,560 cases were logged on Wednesday, along with 92 deaths over the latest weekly period.
Members of the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) appeared before an Oireachtas Health Committee meeting on Wednesday, warning that the level of Covid-19 infection in Ireland will remain high into the near future.
Positive outlook
Chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan nonetheless delivered a positive outlook on the Covid-19 situation in the country, around 10 days after almost all restrictions were lifted.
However, he warned that the Omicron variant is “very unlikely” to be the last variant of concern globally and “the global public health risk remains very high”.
Ireland may also enter a “less frequent vaccination situation” in the future, he said, suggesting annual booster vaccines may be offered to vulnerable members of society only.
Separately on Wednesday, the Dáil heard that there are still “high numbers” of Covid-19 outbreaks in nursing homes, with 40 per cent of centres affected.
