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The Deputy Medical Director has said that while progress has been made in suppressing Covid-19, the number of cases, test positivity, and hospital admissions appear to stabilize at levels that remain too high.
Dr. Ronan Glynn said it will now take longer to resolve the cases.
The key reason why progress is slowing down is that the new B117 variant, which was first detected in the UK, now accounts for 90% of all new Covid cases in Ireland.
Dr. Glynn cautioned that people should be very cautious in the coming weeks.
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NPHET Epidemiology Modeling Advisory Group Chair Professor Philip Nolan projected significantly higher case numbers for the end of February than he projected last week.
He said people should stick to current measures for a longer period of time to keep the numbers low.
The Health Department yesterday reported 47 additional deaths of people with Covid-19 and 901 new cases of the disease.
752 Covid-19 patients were treated in hospitals at 8 p.m. last night, up from 765 at the same time the night before.
The number of patients treated in the intensive care units was 148, compared to 151 patients at the same time on Wednesday night.
St James Hospital in Dublin had the highest number of Covid-19 patients at 93, up from 98 the night before.
This was followed by Connolly Hospital in Dublin with 67 patients, then Beaumont Hospital and Mater Hospital, each treating 56 Covid-19 patients.
HSE CEO Paul Reid said hospitalized Covid-19 patients are getting sicker and have to stay in hospital longer because of the variant.
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