Covid hospitalisations hit highest in over eight months as half of ICU patients unvaccinated

The postive effect of the third Covid-19 jab can already be seen among those over 80 as Professor Christine Loscher said there has been a fall in the number of new cases in this cohort. Picture: AP Photo/Eraldo Peres

There was a 19% increase in Covid tests carried out in the community last week.

Nearly 137,000 were taken between November 1 and 7 - a 19% increase on the previous week.

There are 551 Covid patients in hospital today - the highest figure since the end of February.

Since yesterday, 73 people with the virus have been admitted with 38 discharges.

There are now 83 Covid patients in ICU - with more than half of them not fully vaccinated.

HSE chief executive Paul Reid says over 250 people in hospital are receiving enhanced breathing support.

"Please continue to protect yourself and if unvaccinated, we're still here," he said.

The country's 14-day incidence rate of Covid-19 has more than doubled over the past month.

It now stands at 895 cases per 100,000 people - compared to less than 400 at the same time in October.

Waterford has the highest rate in the country, at 1,357 followed by Carlow, Leitrim and Longford.

The five-day moving average of cases has increased by 30% in the past week and is now 3,551.

DCU immunology professor, Christine Loscher has said the vaccine has been doing it's job and preventing the high levels of hospitalisations and admissions to intensive care that occurred in the early months of this year.

"While the hospital numbers have yo-yoed over the last week, we have seen them fall by up to 30 or 40 in the last week," she said.

"We have seen them come back again and I would expect that we will see this up and down over the next month or two until we get those boosters out."

The positive effect of the third Covid-19 jab can already be seen among those over 80 as Prof Loscher said there has been a fall in the number of new cases in this cohort.

"While the case numbers are high at the moment and they may get a bit higher, I would expect that as the booster programme rolls out that we will see case numbers falling over the next couple of months."