The number of patients in hospital with Covid-19 has exceeded 1,000 for first time since April.
A total of 1,055 patients were in the State’s hospitals with the virus, according to the latest official statistics released on Monday morning.
The number of those hospitalised with the virus has risen by nearly 20 per cent in the last week, when 885 people were in hospital on July 4th, according to Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HSPC) figures.
Some 40 of the 1,055 people in hospital with Covid-19 are reported to be in ICU, up from 33 one week ago.
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The last time Covid-19 cases in hospitals were above 1,000 was on April 12th, when 1,004 patients had the virus, including 53 people in ICU at the time.
The number of patients in intensive care with the virus has remained relatively stable in recent weeks despite the recent surge in cases, but there can often be a lag between a rise in hospital admissions and a rise in the number in ICU.
However, the number of people in hospital with Covid-19 has increased by almost 200 per cent over the past month as the highly transmissible BA.4 and BA.5 variants spread through the population. These variants are sublineages of the previously dominant Omicron variant, and now account for around 90 per cent of cases. While the variants are believed to be more transmissible and vaccine evasive, there is no evidence to suggest they are linked to greater disease severity.
Public health chiefs have said only about half of those in hospital with Covid-19 are being specifically treated for the virus.
The Department of Health reissued advise on Sunday for people to wear face masks on public transport as the number of people with Covid-19 in hospitals continues to rise.
In a tweet, the department urged people to continue wearing masks on public transport and in healthcare settings, adding that anyone who wishes to continue wearing masks should not be discouraged from doing so.
Speaking last week on RTÉ's Morning Ireland programme, Dr Colm Henry, the HSE’s chief clinical officer, explained the State was in “week four or five of a six-week plateau” of Covid cases and that based on similar developments in Portugal, case numbers in the community should begin to drop from this week. However, there will be a “lag time” before that relief in cases is seen in hospitals, he added.
Dr Henry urged anyone who is feeling sick or experiencing Covid symptoms to isolate, warning that the Omicron subvariants were “much more transmissible than even the earlier Omicron, or the Delta or the original version we had in 2020, they’re much more infectious”.
Dr Henry said it was “disappointing” to see that over half of people testing positive for Covid while in hospital had not received their booster while a third of those hospitalised with the virus had not received their primary vaccination course.
Just over half of the 730,000 people eligible for the second booster dose – people who are 65 years or older, or 12 years or older with a weak immune system – have received it, he said.
Meanwhile, European Union health agencies recommended on Monday that a second COVID-19 booster be given to everyone above 60 amid a new spike in infections and hospitalisations across Europe. In a joint statement, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) said it was “critical that public health authorities now consider people between 60 and 79 as well as vulnerable persons of any age for a second booster” in anticipation of the next expected Covid wave in the autumn or winter. Both agencies previously recommended in April that people over 80 years of age be considered for a second booster.
In Ireland, the second booster dose is currently available to people aged 65 years or older, people aged 12 years or older with a weak immune system and pregnant women.
