This is the highest number of ICU cases in the country since June.
The Republic of Ireland now has 18 cases of Covid-19 in the ICU across the country, while there are 110 cases in hospitals.
CEO of the HSE Paul Reid provided an update on Sunday morning, where he called on the country not to allow the impact on hospitals to become too great.
He said: “Although lower than our worst peak, the impact on our hospitals is as significant as we’re now trying to keep all of our other services running too. This is a call to arms to everyone to get right behind all that we ask.”
This figure represents the highest number of people with the disease in hospitals since 8 June, and the most people being treated in the ICU since 18 June.
This comes after Philip Nolan, chair of the National Public Health Emergency Team Irish Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group, explained why tests for Covid-19 can sometimes fail to detect cases of the virus.
He said: “First, at any given time, about 30% of infected people are in the latent period, the three to five days after they have been infected, where the virus is multiplying inside their cells and is not yet detectable.
“Second, even when they start to shed the virus, a sensitivity of 70% to 90% means the test will fail to detect the virus in somewhere between 10% and 30% of cases.”
He warned that a “not detected test” does not mean that you do not have the virus, or mean that you are Covid-free.
Second, even they start to shed the virus, a sensitivity of 70-90% means the test will fail to detect the virus in somewhere between 10% and 30% of cases. A ‘not detected’ test does not prove you do not have the virus; it does not show you are ‘COVID-free’. 7/10
— Professor Philip Nolan (@PhilipNolan_SFI) September 26, 2020
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