Ireland in the midst of another wave of Covid-19, HSE warns

Ireland is in the middle of another wave of Covid-19 driven by Omicron subvariants of the virus, according to the HSE’s chief clinical officer Dr Colm Henry.

There were 776 people in hospital with the virus as of 8am on Wednesday, which represented an increase of 25 on the same time the day before. Of these, 31 people were in intensive care units, which was a daily increase of three.

According to the latest data from the HSE, 21 deaths people have died with the virus over the past 14 days. The median age of those who died was 79. There have been 13,584 cases notified in the past seven days, up from 10,008 the week before. The median age of those who have notified the HSE of infection over the past 14 days was 43. There were 96 outbreaks of the virus in the seven days up to June 25th.

The HSE said the number of staff testing positive in acute hospital settings is rising. The figure was almost 600 in the last week, putting further pressure on hospital services.

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The BA4 and BA5 subvariants now account for 90 per cent of cases and the previous protection from reinfection is now gone, Dr Henry told RTÉ radio’s News at One.

Previously, people who had contracted the virus had a natural immunity from reinfection, but this does not apply to the new subvariants, he warned.

The virus is no longer seasonal, but “a virus for all seasons”, he said. While vaccination offers long term protection against serious illness, hospitalisation, ICU and death, hospitals are already under “considerable pressure”, he added.

Dr Henry said the HSE had an emergency response plan in place which included testing facilities and capacity in hospitals, intensive care units and in the community. If Ireland follows the same pattern as Portugal, which experienced a similar upsurge in cases, the wave will last for six weeks after which it would plateau, he said.

[ GPs urge report noticeable rise in number of Covid 19 cases ]

Speaking later on RTE’s Six One News, Dr Henry said there are currently almost 600 staff absent from acute hospitals due to Covid and almost 200 in the community sector.

“It’s the end of June, it’s mid-summer, and yet we’re seeing hospital pressures that we usually only see in December and January and that is worrying,” he said. “The only predictable thing we know about this particular virus is how unpredictable it has been over the last few years.”

Speaking earlier, Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe urged people who have not yet received a second booster vaccine to do so.

“In particular, for those who are in their late 60s, for those who are immuno-compromised our message is please avail of the booster campaign.

“That is the greatest line of defence to the disease and getting very sick and impacting on your health and that of those who are near you. And that’s where we will focus.

Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly has asked the National Immunisation Advisory Committee to examine if a fourth vaccine should be administered to people aged under 65 years later this year.

Meanwhile, a number of hospitals, including University Hospital Kerry and Beaumont Hospital have reintroduced visitor restrictions. The former said it was revising restrictions from Wednesday in response to “very high incidence” of the virus across the county.

It said this has led to a “significantly increased number” of Covid-19 inpatients at the hospital along with a “high level” of emergency presentations.

Tallaght University Hospital said its emergency department is “extremely busy” with high numbers of people attending. “Any patient who is in need of emergency hospital care will be seen and the hospital urged such patients not to delay and to seek care,” it said.