At least 79 patients died after getting Covid-19 in hospital

At least 79 patients have died after contracting Covid-19 in hospital, according to new figures.

A total of 265 patients picked up the disease while being treated in hospital for other conditions, the figures from the Health Service Executive indicate.

The figures do not include infections that occurred in nursing homes and other residential settings, where Covid-19 has led to thousands of cases and hundreds of deaths.

The HSE says notifications are incomplete so it is possible there are further hospital-acquired cases of the virus not included in its figures.

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In total, 3,285 hospitalised patients were confirmed with Covid-19 up to June 23rd, according to the data compiled by the HSE’s Health Protection Surveillance Centre. The total number of deaths in hospitalised patients was 671, or one in five who had the disease.

The figures only include healthcare workers in hospitals where they were inpatients and fulfilled the criteria for infection.

The information was provided to Green Party TD Ossian Smyth in a parliamentary answer from the HSE.