Covid-19: HSE to identify 10,000 more beds to cater for worst-case scenario

The Tánaiste Simon Coveney said that they are planning for the possibility of 50% of the country becoming infected.

According to documents seen by RTÉ News, the beds would be in various locations, such as existing health facilities, student accommodation, hotel rooms and military sites.

It has been suggested that the Garda training facility in Templemore may also be used for treatment.

The HSE would also redeploy staff and recall retired workers to help out with Covid-19 measures.

Tánaiste Simon Coveney has said that the HSE has been trying to work weeks ahead to plan for what will be required.

He told Newstalk Breakfast that he had spoken at length with HSE chief executive Paul Reid, who told him that there had been “an enormously generous response from private hospitals and hotel owners, some other owners of large-scale properties that, if necessary, could be adapted to provide isolation facilities for patients should that be needed outside hospital systems.

But we're also working very hard to decant people out of hospital who don't need to be there, to put home care packages in place for people who could be looked after at home rather than in a hospital setting so that we can free up extra space and extra beds within hospitals, that has been happening now for some time.

“What the HSE has been doing is essentially they've been trying to work weeks ahead of where we are, so what the HSE will be doing today is trying to plan where we need to be in a week's time, two week's time, in a month's time, in terms of trying to anticipate the pace of spread of the virus and the number of people who will need isolation, particularly vulnerable people who will be prioritised.”

Mr Coveney said the truth was that it was simply unknown what percentage of the population will be infected.

The National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) is trying to plan for the possibility of 50% of the population will be infected.

“We simply don’t know and have to make preparations for the worst case scenario.”

Twenty-seven new cases of coronavirus were announced by health officials last night. There are now 70 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the Republic. Six people are in intensive care.

Twenty-two of the new cases were associated with local transmission. Two cases were due to community transmission and three were associated with travel.

Useful information
• The HSE have developed an information pack on how to protect yourself and others from coronavirus. Read it here
• Anyone with symptoms of coronavirus who has been in close contact with a confirmed case in the last 14 days should isolate themselves from other people - this means going into a different, well-ventilated room alone, with a phone; phone their GP, or emergency department - if this is not possible, phone 112 or 999 and in a medical emergency (if you have severe symptoms) phone 112 or 999