400 Covid-positive patients are in Irish hospitals this morning - the highest number of patients since the 8th of March 2021.
Last week, the HSE's CEO Paul Reid issued a word of caution to the public over the recent rise in the number of hospitalisations related to Covid-19.
🦠 400 covid-positive patients in Irish hospitals today - first time since early March.
74 in ICU - highest since late March.
— Ben Finnegan (@_BenFinnegan) October 11, 2021
Since last Monday, the number of Covid-positive patients in hospital has increased by 20%.
"Some of this is in effect, a lag-effect," says the HSE's Chief Clinical Officer Dr Colm Henry.
"There's still probably somewhere between 40,000 and 50,000 people out there unvaccinated. The question is how quickly they get and over what time frame. It's not just the harm to themselves, but also the pressure put on the health system," he said.
Daily case numbers have spiked in the past few days, following a steady decline however, on Friday, the Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr Ronan Glynn did say the overall number of cases reported last week was lower than the previous seven days.
Earlier this month there were figures released related to the numbers of those in Intensive Care with Covid, and whether they have been vaccinated or not.
The figures showed 70% of people who had been admitted to ICU with Covid-19 between April and September hadn't been vaccinated at all, and 20% were fully vaccinated.
There were 356 admissions in total.
In the patients who were fully vaccinated and admitted to ICU - 97% had an underlying condition - and a third passed away.
The youngest fully vaccinated person admitted was 30 and the oldest was 88.
