“None of us have 100% protection from getting the virus.”
There have been 1,758 new cases of Covid-19 reported in Ireland on Sunday.
The figures released from the Department of Health on Saturday did not contain information regarding deaths related to Covid-19.
The Department of Health’s statement said that the number of daily cases may also change due to future data validation.
As of 8am on Saturday, 248 Covid-19 patients are hospitalised, of which 48 are in ICU.
It comes as HSE CEO Paul Reid said the number of people in hospital with the virus also increased “sixfold” over the past six weeks, climbing from 40 six weeks ago to 248 as of Sunday morning.
“We should take great confidence from the vaccination programme,” he told Newstalk’s On The Record programme.
“I can see it working in terms of hospitalisations and in terms of ICU.”
However, Reid said that in spite of the success of the vaccine rollout, 248 is a “lot of people who are very sick”, adding that while the vaccines do help, “we are not bulletproof”.
“It’s a real alert to all of us and take strong encouragement that vaccines are working, but we are not bulletproof.
The HSE Chief added that while a majority of the adult population is now fully vaccinated at 80%, the virus still has “very high transmission levels in the community”.
He said that while “none of us have 100% protection from getting the virus”, the sickness is “not as strong” as it was in January.
“What we are seeing is people are hospitalised and staying shorter than it was in January of this year. The level of sickness is not as strong,” he said.
Main Image: Sam Boal/Photocall Ireland/RollingNews.ie
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