177 people in Ireland being treated in hospital for Covid-19

29 of those were being treated in ICU.

As of 8pm on Saturday evening, 177 people were in hospital receiving treatment for Covid-19. Anne O'Connor, Chief Operations Officer with the HSE, revealed the figure during a briefing on Saturday morning. She said the figure had risen from 151 on Saturday morning. 29 people with Covid-19 in Ireland are currently being treated in intensive care units. On Saturday evening, the Department of Health said there were 102 new cases of Covid-19 in Ireland bringing the total number in the Republic of Ireland to 785 and 893 on the island of Ireland. Around Ireland, 40,000 people are waiting to be tested for Covid-19 with an average waiting time for testing of between four and five days. The HSE said it expects the backlog of tests to be addressed next week as more testing sites are created with more testing meaning more confirmed cases. HSE CEO Paul Reid warned the public that Ireland is going to see a strain on its health system the likes of which the country has never seen. Ireland currently has 1,000 ventilators and has secured 300 more. It has also ordered another 1,000 which will be delivered in batches of 100 over the coming weeks. Reid warned this is just the beginning of what the country is facing and the HSE is scaling up in preparation for what's to come.