Omicron spike could see hospital numbers exceed January levels, warns Donnelly

"In terms of the number of cases, yes, it could well be it could be more in terms of the number of hospitalisations [compared to January of this year]. Yes, that is entirely possible.”

Covid hospitalisations could match or even exceed the spike seen last January as Omicron becomes the dominant variant here, the health minister has warned.

GPs have been asked to halt all less urgent work and prioritise the rollout of Covid-19 boosters as part of a significant acceleration of the vaccine campaign, which will see doctors given discretion in moving through all adult age groups with booster jabs.

The 15-minute wait period after a person has been vaccinated has now been waived to help speed up the rollout.

It comes as the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) is due to give further advice to the Government today, which could include further measures aimed at trying to decrease social mixing, as well as guidelines on the numbers of households that should meet over Christmas.

Close contacts of confirmed Covid-19 cases may have to restrict their movements and stay at home over Christmas, under new measures to be considered by Nphet when it meets.

Currently, people do not have to restrict their movements if they are a non-household close contact and are fully vaccinated.

In relation to international travel, Nphet is not expected to recommend a tightening of rules, given that the Omicron variant is already in Ireland and spreading.

Mr Donnelly said Omicron, at this point, constitutes a "very significant risk" to the country.

"We've seen the UK has just reported its highest Covid cases ever — so what we're doing now is further accelerating the programme,” he said in relation to booster shots.

"In terms of the number of cases, yes, it could well be it could be more in terms of the number of hospitalisations [compared to January of this year]. Yes, that is entirely possible.”

Addressing the potential for added restrictions, Mr Donnelly said: “We've got to do now is assess the situation in the context of this new variant. 

"Unfortunately, we have a new variant. It's much more transmissible. And so we have to respond to that.” 

Health Minister Stephen Donnelly said the Omicron variant constitutes a 'very significant risk' to the country. Picture: Sasko Lazarov

All those over the age of 50, those in at-risk groups, and pregnant people will be offered a booster vaccine by the end of the year and those over 40 will start getting appointments from next week.

The "vast majority" of the country's 1,300 GP clinics are now going to be involved in the booster rollout, Mr Donnelly said.

"They're going to have to stop doing some of the less urgent work for their own patients, it's not an easy thing for the GPs to do, but we've really asked them to get on board with this national push, and they have stepped up."

Paediatric hospitals will also begin administering vaccines to high-risk children from next week.

The number of pharmacies administering the booster vaccine will increase from 550 outlets to around 1,000.

However, pharmacies will not begin offering booster vaccines to all over-16s as had initially been indicated, as a message for them to do so was sent “in error” by the HSE.

The Irish Pharmacy Union believes anyone who booked their appointment in the hours before the message was recalled should have this honoured.

IPU secretary general Darragh O’Loughlin said: “It is going to cause a lot of confusion and upset in pharmacies. There are going to be people who made that appointment in good faith.

"Anyone who made an appointment in that window should be allowed to get that vaccination.”

Speaking in Brussels, Taoiseach Micheál Martin indicated that there will be some "flexibility" around the festive season and New Year's Eve, as the Government and health officials appreciate that this is a time when family and friends meet.

However, he described the situation with Omicron as "challenging", and said that he will be waiting to see what comes out of the Nphet meeting today.

"I think being overly prescriptive is not the way forward here, and we must trust people as well about how they go about their daily lives," he said.

"All, including public health officials, realise the festive season is upon us — an important part of the year where families get together — and we recognise the obvious human factors involved, and flexibilities will apply."

He added that testing will be a key part of international travel in the weeks and months ahead.

Tánaiste Leo Varadkar told a meeting of his parliamentary party last night that he fully expects schools to reopen in January as planned.