:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/EHUE4F5362CBXCCHZHD3IWQCGA.jpg)
The number of people in hospital with Covid-19 is at its highest level for more than six months with 145 admissions on Saturday.
There were 145 admissions of people who tested positive for Covid-19 in the last 24 hours with 54 discharges.
The number of people in hospital is now at 1,127, the highest figure since September 2nd, 2021.
As of 11.30am on Sunday, there were 52 people in ICU with the virus, up seven on the previous day.
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/3LIHZ5DW46LZ2KTRGSTJQW3PA4.jpg)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/IZQUL6SZ6EKOAG3ANJ5M7BKZXE.jpg)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/EJVU6EZX76ZWIFUL3ATKKWAM3U.jpg)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/APOV43SPL4J6T4L7JZVPZCUVTY.jpg)
There has been no reporting of new Covid-19 figures since March 16th because of the extended St Patrick’s weekend bank holiday.
On the 16th there were 14,096 cases reported of whom 5,452 were confirmed by PCR test and the remainder by antigen test.
It brought to 1,365,467 the number of cases confirmed in the Republic since the start of the pandemic in March 2020.
Meanwhile, in Northern Ireland, a further six deaths of people who have previously tested positive for Covid-19 have been reported.
The North’s Department of Health said another 1,708 confirmed cases of the virus have been notified in the last 24-hour reporting period.
Taoiseach
According to The Irish Examiner, Taoiseach Micheál Martin may have a rescheduled meeting in the Oval Office with president Joe Biden.
Mr Martin missed out for a second successive year on the St Patrick's Day meeting because of Covid-19.
He tested positive on Wednesday on the eve of St Patrick’s Day.
He will continue to isolate at Blair Houses in Washington, but may finish his isolation at the Irish ambassador's residence.
Officials are reportedly looking at the possibility of whether he could leave the country after five days, and not 10, if his tests come back as negative.
This would allow him to travel to Brussels next Thursday for a meeting of EU leaders.
Mr Biden is also due to be in Brussels next week for an extraordinary Nato meeting to discuss the war in Ukraine.
The potential meeting with Mr Biden make take place later in this year, before the Taoiseach leaves office in December to be replaced by Tánaiste Leo Varadkar. – Additional reporting: PA
:quality(70)/s3.amazonaws.com/arc-authors/irishtimes/365cc36e-0bb8-4fb2-871b-ed273b2b038f.png)