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Dr Tony Holohan, Ireland’s chief marketing officer, says the current covid situation is expected to “get worse before it gets better”.
His comments come as 11 more deaths and 1,754 new cases were recorded on Friday.
Dr. Holohan says that between 50 and 70 people are entering hospitals each day and that there will be more pressure on the healthcare system in the future.
Of today’s new cases, Cork saw 296.
Dr. Holohan said: “The most worrying trend today is the increasing number of people entering the hospital; we now admit between 50 and 70 people a day in our hospital system.
“Unfortunately, we expect this to get worse before it improves. Our healthcare system will not continue to cope with this level of shock.
“We’ve also seen a significant increase in positive lab tests in recent days, reflecting a real increase in the incidence of the disease, as well as the delay in people showing up for tests over the Christmas period.
“As our systems catch up with these effects, it puts significant pressure on our reporting system.
“We have always understood that the number of positive tests or confirmed cases would be a less reliable indicator during the Christmas period.
“This is typical of the annual infectious disease reports during the two weeks of Christmas and New Years.
“What is clear are the measures that the government has now ordered and the behaviors that we, as individuals, must observe. Everyone should stay home other than for essential work or care.”
Professor Philip Nolan, Chairman of NPHET’s Irish Epidemiological Modeling Advisory Group, also cautioned that there are also 9,000 new confirmed cases to be reported in the coming days as there is a formal delay in notification.
He said: “Evidence processed and reported on a given day will normally be validated and confirmed by HPSC the next day. Positive tests detected in laboratories require validation (to remove duplicates and other tests that do not create new cases) and transferred to the HPSC database prior to confirmation and reporting.
“A large volume of positive tests in recent days means there is a delay in formal reporting. Over 9,000 additional new cases will be reported in the coming days.
“The delay in notification does not affect case management or contact tracing or our overall monitoring and modeling of the pandemic.”
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