Trainee doctors cover ICU shifts as Covid-crisis worsens

Cork University Hospital. Picture: Dan Linehan

Trainee doctors have been asked to cover intensive care nursing shifts as hospitals brace for a surge in Covid-19 cases.

With hundreds of frontline medical staff unavailable for work because of the virus, HSE chief executive Paul Reid warned yesterday that the number of people in hospital with Covid-19 is likely to be “double” last year's peak of 881 within days.