The steady upward climb of people in hospital with the Covid-19 virus has continued with a further 56 people testing positive.
Data published by the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) for Thursday shows 685 cases of people in hospital who have tested positive compared to 629 on Wednesday.
Although many of those patients will have attended hospital for reasons other than Covid, the numbers have continued upward, rising daily from 496 last Thursday, a climb of 38 per cent in a week.
Earlier this week, Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly said there was a “very rapid” increase in hospital Covid numbers.
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“What’s concerning is, recently it was down as low as 167, so we have seen a threefold increase,” he told RTÉ.
The trajectory has led to further calls for vulnerable people to seek a second vaccination against the virus if they have not had one.
“Obviously we would be very concerned for any patient who is in hospital with Covid for themselves in the first instance, but also there is more chance of Covid outbreaks,” Mr Donnelly said, stressing this could have a knock-on impact on the health service.
By 11.30am on Thursday, there were 20 people in intensive care units (ICUs) with Covid, the lowest level in some time.
The recent increase in cases is due to the BA. 4 and BA. 5 variants that are spreading faster with an ability to bypass immunity from past infection and vaccination.
One in three people with suspected symptoms are testing positive — of those being tested nationally and reporting the results, the positivity rate over the last week was 32.2 per cent.
This new summer wave has rebooted debate around the need for mandatory mask wearing in certain places, a staple of the peak pandemic era many had hoped was now over.
Last weekend Mr Donnelly appeared to raise the possibility of a return of the policy on public transport and in shops.
Kingston Mills, professor of experimental immunology at Trinity College Dublin, has said he felt mask-wearing was dropped too quickly and that older and vulnerable people with underlying medical conditions should be encouraged to wear masks.
