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.
The number of people in hospital with the virus has increased by 56 per cent in the past week, and the ICU figure has risen by 73 per cent.
There are now 1,848 people in hospital with Covid, which includes 187 in intensive care.
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.”
Brazil variant
Meanwhile, chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan has said there is no evidence that new variants of Covid-19 recently identified in Brazil are in Ireland, but asked anyone travelling from Brazil to self-isolate for 14 days and get tested as soon as possible.
He said: “It is essential that anyone arriving from Brazil self-isolate for 14 days from the date of arrival before entering/re-entering the workplace. We are particularly appealing to employers to enable their employees to protect each other by staying at home for the full 14 days.
“Further risk assessment of the new variants is expected from the ECDC [European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control] in the coming week. We must all continue to adhere to every element of the public health advice. This remains our best defence against Covid-19.”
