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The Director of the National Virus Reference Laboratory has said that it is inevitable that a variant of the virus that was first detected in the UK will become the dominant variant here over time.
Dr. Cillian De Gascun said that the virus has adapted and moves better from person to person, making it even more important for people to keep their distance.
There are 186 Covid-19 patients in intensive care this morning. Most of them, 22, are at St James Hospital in Dublin.
There are 1,872 people with coronavirus in the entire Irish hospital system. Most are in Cork University Hospital (152), followed by Limerick University Hospital (139) and St Vincent Hospital in Dublin (134).
A total of 77,303 people have received their first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine.
Professor Brian MacCraith, head of the government’s vaccination task force, said in a post on Twitter that 1,800 GPs and nurse practitioners were inoculated at three new mass vaccination centers that opened yesterday in Dublin, Galway and Portlaoise.
A sincere thank you to everyone involved at the Mass Vaccination Center (MVC) in Phoenix Park today, especially@Ambulance(Nth Leinster) and all volunteer vaccinators and support staff.
1800 GPs and practice nurses vaccinated in 3 MVCs.
@ RQuinlan999 @WalleyRay pic.twitter.com/Ylf3yZdf2k– Brian MacCraith (@muirtheimhne) January 16, 2021
Yesterday, HSE CEO Paul Reid said the Moderna vaccine was the main one used in the new centers.
He said: “Everything is going very well so far. There are ten bays at each site, vaccinating between 40 and 60 people per hour.
“Our nursing home program is accelerating this week and by next week in mid-February, everyone should have had their second dose of the vaccine.”
HSE COO Dr. Colm Henry paid tribute to the “special spirit of meitheal” in launching the vaccine and said they would apply that learning to the launch center application in the coming months.
Yesterday, the Health Department notified 60 more deaths related to Covid and 3,231 new cases of the virus.
Dr. Tony Holohan, medical director, warned that the disease “has taken hold in all parts of the country” and that infection levels remain “too high.”
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