Number of Covid patients in hospital surpasses 1,000 for first time since January

The number of people in hospital with Covid has increased by nearly 60% in the last two weeks. Picture: Dan Linehan

A public health expert says there should be a renewed message for people to wear masks in shops and on public transport.

The number of people in hospital with Covid has increased by nearly 60% in the last two weeks.

On Monday morning, the number of Covid patients surpassed 1,000 — for the first time in almost two months.

There are currently 1,042 people with the virus and 41 in ICUs.

Infectious diseases professor Jack Lambert says although masks are optional, they still play an important role.

"I think there should be a message clearly from the Government that people should continue to do the right thing," he said.

I don't want to go into a shop and cough on an elderly person and then they're going to end up sick in the hospital.

"I just think we need to collectively continue to wear masks on public transportation, in shops and all of these kinds of places."

Intensive care consultant Dr Catherine Motherway has warned anyone scheduled for elective surgery to be careful about contracting Covid because if they test positive their procedure will be postponed for at least six weeks.

Guidelines from UK and Irish associations for anesthetists indicate that carrying out an operation within six weeks of having Covid carries increased risk, she told RTÉ radio’s Today with Claire Byrne show.

She also added that today of the number of patients in intensive care, 16 were ventilated.

Dr Motherway encouraged people aged over 70 or with compromised immune systems to continue to wear masks on public transport and in settings such as shops.

If you feel you are at risk, continue to wear a mask.

Dr Motherway said she was “a little concerned” at the increase in Covid cases in recent days and the impact such figures could have on the health system, but she pointed out that the high figures were not translating into critical care illnesses.

It was also not possible to determine if the numbers at present in hospital with Covid were there because of Covid or if they were in hospital with other issues and happened to test positive for Covid, she said.

Covid was here to stay, “it’s not going away” but it was likely to become a less severe public health issue, she said.

Dr Motherway pointed out that in Asian countries mask-wearing had become routine after Sars, culturally they had become used to wearing them., however, she did not think that mask-wearing should be mandatory again. 

Fine Gael senator Jerry Buttimer has said the mask mandate should be reviewed ahead of St Patrick's Day.

He described the current figures as concerning and said while illness and hospitalisation among the general public were not as high as with other variants, there still needed to be consideration and support for those who are more vulnerable.