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The incidence of a more infectious variant of the coronavirus first detected in England has increased further in Ireland and has accounted for almost half of the most recent sample of positive tests, the Taoiseach said.
Micheál Martin said he was told by medical director Dr. Tony Holohan that the new variant accounted for 45% of the 92 most recent samples that underwent additional testing, compared to 25% of those analyzed in the week to January 3 and 9% two weeks. earlier.
The Health Department was notified yesterday of eight more deaths related to the coronavirus and 6,888 new cases.
The latest figures from Health Service Executive put the number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in the hospital at 1,575.
The number of ICU patients has increased to 146.
The Taoiseach also said that he believes people should now wear face covers when they are “away from home.”
He said some popular areas where people go to exercise are getting crowded and he thinks people should wear masks in those settings.
Martin told Newstalk radio that he did not accept that the government had sent mixed messages in the run-up to Christmas and believed that he had acted responsibly at all times to respond to the challenges posed by the virus.
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He said he believed that more socialization, the new variant and seasonality had contributed to the current situation.
Martin said that while some people did not adhere to the guidelines, there is evidence that most people are responding to the new restrictions and that “the great, great majority of people are staying home.”
He said the positivity rate was dropping, GP referral rates were dropping, the five-day moving average was stagnating, and close contacts were dropping as well.
‘Grim and worrying’ pressure on ICUs, consultant warns
A consultant in intensive care medicine at Dublin’s Beaumont Hospital has called the pressure on critical care “grim and worrying.”
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Dr Michael Power said that there are currently 37 beds available in the ICU system.
Some hospitals have contacted other facilities and activated the mobile transport of the intensive care ambulance service to transfer patients from one hospital to another to relieve pressure.
Dr. Power said there is an initiative across the acute care hospital system to reduce scheduled surgery, except for time-critical and emergency cancer surgery, which will increase the surge capacity from 292 to 350.
Critical care rationing suggestions do not apply at this time, he said.
Dr Andrew Westbrook, ICU consultant at St Vincent Hospital, said the healthcare system is about to enter a phase “the likes of which we have never seen before in Ireland”.
He said that given the number of hospital patients, ICUs have yet to see the peak and if the number of patients presenting to the hospital continues, then “there will be a tsunami of patients presenting to intensive care.”
Speaking on RTÉ’s Today with Claire Byrne, he said that Ireland could be facing scenes like the ones seen in Lombardy and New York last year.
Varadkar says the situation in hospitals is likely to get worse
Tánaiste Leo Varadkar warned that the situation in hospitals is likely to worsen, and while there are hopeful signs that the number of positive Covid-19 cases will decline in the coming days, it will be some time before this manifests itself in hospitals. .
Speaking of the same program, he said the focus should now be on reducing community transmission and speeding up the vaccine program.
He said the government will review the current Level 5 restrictions by the end of the month, but some companies may not be able to reopen until the end of March.
Mr Varadkar said that the Government’s plan is to reopen the schools as planned and that it will work with management and unions to convince them that reopening the schools is a good idea.
He said that efforts will also be made to open special education schools as soon as possible.
The number of people with coronavirus in the hospital has more than quadrupled in the past two weeks, health service executive Paul Reid said yesterday.
He said private hospitals have already started taking in some urgent non-Covid patients.
One in five (21%) Covid-19 swabs test positive with 180,897 tests performed in the last seven days.
Increase in the number of admitted to regional hospitals
There has been a significant increase in the number of Covid-19 patients admitted to hospitals in the Northeast in the past week, and the number has more than doubled at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda since last Monday.
There are 97 Covid-19 patients treated at the hospital, compared to 46 last Monday. Of the 97 patients, six are in the ICU.
At Cavan General Hospital, there are 52 Covid-19 patients compared to 21 last Monday. Two patients with Covid-19 are in the ICU.
There are 122 confirmed cases of Covid-19 being treated at Limerick University Hospital, up from 47 last Monday, with another ten suspected cases.
There are nine patients who have been treated in their ICU.
Dr. Marie Casey, a public health specialist, cautioned that while the daily number of cases is high, “what is really happening is also underestimated. Many people will go undiagnosed.”
She said on Twitter that the “infection pattern indicates widespread community transmission. This is not like wave 2, more like wave 1 but worse.”
“You have to assume that anyone you may meet is positive. This is the moment, of all the times in the last ten months, that you need to stay home.”
Update on what public health looks like.
Not like wave 2, more like wave 1 but worse.
The pattern of infection indicates widespread community transmission. Case transmission feels higher, but I have no statistics on this.– Dr. Marie Casey (@marietcasey) January 10, 2021
The Vice President of the Irish Association of Hospital Consultants, Dr. Gabrielle Colleran, said yesterday that the next fortnight “will take our acute hospital system to the absolute limit”.
“If it will break that limit and we will be in a situation where doctors will be forced to ration care, which would be terrible for everyone involved, we will not know until we see how it works,” he said.
Driving license exemption for people over 70
The Minister of State of the Department of Transportation, Hildegarde Naughton, has announced an extension of the exemption that allows those over 70 years of age to apply for a driver’s license without having to provide a medical report.
We are expanding the exemption that allows those over 70 to renew their driver’s license without providing a medical report. You don’t need to do anything – if you are over 70 years old and need to renew, NDLS will send you a packet to request by mail or online at https://t.co/iiBmUvtNmt @RSAIreland pic.twitter.com/0AtndDqi7R
– Hildegarde Naughton (@ 1Hildegarde) January 11, 2021
It comes after the increase in Covid-19 cases and to ease the burden on medical services.
Minister Naughton said: “This means that people aged 70 and over can apply for and renew their driver’s license without the need to submit a medical report, provided they do not have an identified or specified disease and are not applying for a category of truck or bus.
“This expanded measure will eliminate the need for our drivers over the age of 70 to make an unnecessary trip to their GP or the National Driver’s License Service center.”
Additional information Fergal Bowers, Sinead Hussey, Cathy Halloran
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