The Department of Health has said backdated figures will be published when possible.
There will be no daily Covid-19 figures released this evening on account of the cyber attack against the HSE, the Department of Health has said.
Early on Friday, the HSE announced it had temporarily shut down its IT system after it was targeted in a “significant ransomware attack”.
Described as possibly the most significant cybercrime attack on the Irish state by Minister of State for eGovernment Ossian Smyth, it has caused major disruptions to health services across the country.
Typically the number of new Covid-19 cases and Covid-19 related deaths for the previous 24 hours would be released between 5pm and 7pm.
However, the disruption to the HSE’s IT systems the cyber attack has caused means the daily Covid-19 figures are not available.
In a statement posted to Twitter, the Department of Health wrote: “Due to the current disruption of the HSE IT systems daily #COVID19 figures are not available.
“Backdated figures will be published when possible.”
Due to the current disruption of the HSE IT systems daily #COVID19 figures are not available. Backdated figures will be published when possible.
— Department of Health (@roinnslainte) May 15, 2021
Earlier today, HSE CEO Paul Reid said the HSE made “steady and safe progress” overnight in assessing the damage of Friday’s cyber attack and working to regain control of its IT system.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Saturday with Katie Hannon, Reid stated that the cyber attack was “most likely” carried out by an international criminal organisation and echoed Taoiseach Micheál Martin’s comments on Friday night that a ransom will not be paid to the perpetrators.
He said: “No State wants to leave its national infrastructure exposed to ransoms and that’s exactly what these organisations set out to do.”
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