A total of 60 deaths and 8,450 new cases of Covid-19 have been recorded in Ireland over the latest weekly period.
This compares to 41 deaths and 9,213 cases the week before.
Since last week, data relating to new cases and deaths is updated just once weekly each Wednesday on the country’s official data hub.
The latest cases were recorded over the week from May 19th to May 25th through a combination of PCR and antigen tests.
In the latest weekly update, a total of 4,003 cases were confirmed by PCR test. 720 were recorded today on Wednesday, 455 on Tuesday, 622 on Monday, 466 on Sunday, 644 on Saturday, 263 on Friday and 833 on Thursday.
A total of 4,447 cases were identified through antigen tests registered on the HSE portal, with 718 logged today on Wednesday, 867 on Tuesday, 500 on Monday, 394 on Sunday, 545 on Saturday, 669 on Friday and 754 on Thursday.
A total of 31,796 PCR tests were carried out over the last seven days, with a positivity rate of 13.3 per cent – up slightly on last week’s 12.5 per cent.
60 deaths were notified over the same weekly period compared to last week’s 41, bringing the total pandemic death toll in Ireland to 7,304.
Hospitalisations meanwhile dropped below the 200 patient mark this week, with 191 people in hospital with the virus as of this morning, including 26 in intensive care units.
New variant of concern
It comes as two cases of a newly classified Covid-19 variant of concern have been confirmed in the country.
On May 12th, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) reclassified two sub-lineages of the Omicron variant, BA.4 and BA.5, from variants of interest to variants of concern.
In chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan’s latest weekly report on Covid-19 to Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly, he said two cases of BA.4 had been identified as of the week beginning May 7th.
“ECDC has indicated that the currently observed growth advantage for BA.4 and BA.5 is likely due to their ability to evade immune protection induced by prior infection and/or vaccination, particularly if this has waned over time,” he said.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin has expressed concern over the presence of the new variant and asked people who are eligible for a booster vaccine to get the jab as soon as possible.
