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NPHET has told the Government that it will be increasingly difficult to maintain the level of Covid-19 suppression that has been achieved since the New Year.
Dr. Tony Holohan informed the Minister of Health that NPHET expects a large number of additional deaths from the virus in the coming weeks.
In its letter to Stephen Donnelly on January 21, NPHET said the country remains in a very vulnerable position despite the great strides in recent weeks.
He warned that “it will be difficult for all of us to maintain very low levels of social contact and adherence to social distancing and the hygiene measures necessary to maintain the repression.”
The letter said that the effective breeding number is likely to increase in the coming weeks.
He also predicted that the variant will become more and more dominant over the next 3-6 weeks and this will increase the breeding numbers.
Read the latest letters from NPHET
Health Service CEO Paul Reid said there has been a modest decline in the number of patients in hospitals, saying it is the “first sign of hope in many weeks.”
He said he really hopes it is the start of a trend.
However, Mr. Reid said that our healthcare system will not see the benefits of this for some time to come, and for now, we have to continue the relentless pressure on our services across the board.
It remains a health care system that continues to fight and work hard to protect and save lives, he said.
Many hospitalized patients will need an extended period of care and rehabilitation before they are well enough to be discharged, he said.
Some of the most vulnerable groups remain at high risk, he added.
It comes when the latest figures from the Health Service Executive show that there are 1,620 people hospitalized with Covid-19.
That’s slightly higher than last night’s 8pm figure of 1,598, but lower than yesterday morning’s figure of 1,727.
The latest figures available show that there are 216 patients in the ICU.
Speaking at a press conference this afternoon, HSE CEO Paul Reid said the situation at the UCI was “too close to a tipping point.”
Regarding the UCI, Paul Reid says that overall capacity remains “too close to a tipping point.” It says there are 1,620 Covid patients in the hospital, 216 of whom are in the ICU. Says there are 18 free ICU beds across the country | https://t.co/zUowRQ0yHI pic.twitter.com/HefWJl5PgI
– RTÉ News (@rtenews) January 28, 2021
In Northern Ireland, there have been another 13 deaths from coronavirus, 11 of which occurred in the last 24 hours.
It brings the official death toll from the Health Department to 1,792.
There are 592 new test cases in 2,992 people. 768 confirmed patients are in the hospital, 67 in the ICU, 57 of whom are on ventilators.
The 7-day average infection rate per 100,000 in Northern Ireland is 216.1, the lowest since December 22.
The Stormont Executive is expected to approve a proposal today to keep schools closed in Northern Ireland until March 8 at the earliest.
Additional reporting Mícheál Lehane, Eileen Magnier
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