Fears raised that private hospital deal will be insufficient to cope with escalating Covid crisis

Yesterday saw a record 63 further deaths from Covid-19 in Ireland, and health authorities have warned we have a long way to go as the impact of last week’s high case numbers continues.

There are growing concerns that the deal struck with private hospitals for Covid-19 surge capacity may not be enough as deaths rise and hospitalisations escalate.

Yesterday saw a record 63 further deaths from Covid-19, the second-highest daily figure since the pandemic began. 

Of those deaths, 56 took place this month, five in November and one in December. There have now been 2,460 deaths from Covid-19 in Ireland.

There were 3,569 new cases confirmed, bringing the total to 159,144. Dublin saw 1,119 new cases, followed by 416 in Cork, 200 in Galway, and 169 in Waterford.

Chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan said: “We are seeing some early signs of progress with daily cases numbers and positivity rates. We can take some hope in them, but we have a long, long way to go.

"In the coming weeks ahead, we will need to draw upon our reserves of resilience from springtime as we can expect to see hospitalisations, admissions to ICU and mortality related to Covid-19 increase day on day,” said the CMO.

However, there is growing concern from Government TDs that the deal with private hospitals has taken so long to be agreed and does not go far enough to secure beds, with senior sources saying there was now a belief among some ministers that the deal should be sped up and broadened immediately.

Ministers are also said to be raising concern at the level of pay offered to student nurses, which is below the rate paid at the start of the pandemic, with Government TDs questioning the "fairness" of asking student nurses to begin placements during the "worst of the pandemic".

The Government plans to have 700,000 people vaccinated against Covid-19 by the end of March, health minister Stephen Donnelly has told the Dáil.

He said: “Critically, this will vaccinate the top three groups on the prioritisation list, that is, those in long-term residential care — namely staff and residents — frontline healthcare workers, and our population of people over 70 years of age.”

“We are further planning to be able to vaccinate more than 1.5m people in quarter two, and more than that again in quarter three. 

"At these levels, people most at risk of Covid-19 will be fully vaccinated by the summer.

However, Mr Donnelly called the figures "highly provisional" and said that they hinged on the availability of vaccines. 

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