"That will put the public system under extreme pressure."

The National Director of Acute Operations with the Health Service Executive (HSE) has said the intensive care figure could increase to 300 by early next week in Ireland. Liam Woods, speaking on RTÉ's Prime Time on Tuesday night, said the demand on ICUs could exceed the supply, but much will depend on the trajectory of the virus. "It depends on the trajectory of the virus but we're looking at this stage at potentially moving from about 160 cases in ICU at the moment to potentially 300 by early next week," Woods said. "That will put the public system under extreme pressure." As of Wednesday morning, almost 1,700 patients with Covid-19 are being treated in hospitals around the country. The pressure on ICUs continues to build with a new high of 160 patients in ICUs reported on Wednesday. Cork University Hospital is said to be among the worst affected, while University Hospital Limerick and St Vincent's Hospital in Dublin are also under severe strain. Woods said there was plans to expand ICU capacity and said that new beds have opened and private hospitals are also taking patients. On Tuesday, a further 46 people were reported to have died from Covid-19 in Ireland, with the Health Protection Surveillance Centre saying that all but two of these deaths occurred in January. It is the most deaths confirmed on a single day since 28 April of last year. 3,086 new confirmed cases of Covid-19 were also reported to the HPSC with 604 of the cases in Galway, 574 in Dublin, 466 in Mayo, 187 in Cork, 138 in Limerick and the remaining 1,117 cases are spread across all other counties.