An extremely worrying sight.
The number of patients with Covid-19 in hospitals has increased to 1,700, according to Health Service Executive CEO Paul Reid.
As of Tuesday afternoon (12 January), there are now 158 patients with Covid-19 in intensive care units (ICU), compared to the previous peak number of 155 in ICU from last April, during the initial wave of the pandemic.
Meanwhile, 13 hospitals across the country are said not to have any free ICU beds available.
Speaking on Tuesday morning, Reid said: “The big ask of everyone is to stay at home & help get our hospitals & nursing homes back to safer levels. Our healthcare teams ask just this of us.”
This comes shortly after it emerged that Ireland officially has the highest daily Covid-19 rate in the world.
The seven day rolling average for new cases in Ireland is 1,394 cases per million. The UK is currently on 810, Portugal is on 735, and the US is on 653 cases per million.
Chief Medical Officer Tony Holohan said on Monday that hospitalisations tend to happen weeks after a positive diagnosis, and that as a result, we have a situation that will worsen before it gets better.
An update on Ireland’s Covid situation is expected this evening.
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