More than 14,000 new Covid cases as hospitalisations continue to rise

The number of Covid patients in hospital is now at its highest level since February 2021.

More than 14,000 new cases of Covid-19 were confirmed on Wednesday as hospitalisations continue to rise.

Wednesday saw 5,452 PCR-confirmed cases as well as 8,644 positive antigen tests being registered through the HSE portal.

The Department of Health has urged people to continue to follow public health advice with St Patrick's Day approaching "in order to socialise safely and maintain our focus on protecting those most vulnerable".

The Department has echoed calls from the HSE in advising mask-wearing in crowded indoor settings and on public tranport.

"Anyone who wishes to wear a mask should not be discouraged from doing so," said a statement.

"Continue to practise good hand and respiratory hygiene by washing and sanitising hands regularly and coughing/sneezing into your elbow. Maintain a physical distance where possible."

The number of people in hospital with the virus is now at the highest level since February 2021.

As of 8am, 1,081 people are currently in hospital with Covid, a jump of 34 from Tuesday.

The last time it was higher was February 9 last year, when 1,104 people were hospitalised with the virus.

However, the number of people in intensive care with Covid has remained stable. Today, 44 people are in ICU with the virus, up two.

Yesterday, the HSE confirmed that there are 101 Covid outbreaks across hospitals.

There has also been a further 595 outbreaks across community care services including nursing homes which are leading to bed and ward closures and delaying patient discharge from hospital care.

The health service has urged the public to consider all care options before attending emergency departments due to two bank holidays and the weekend coming together.

The Covid outbreaks are impacting hospitals’ ability to admit patients.

Speaking from the US, the Taoiseach raised concerns around rising Covid case numbers but said the Government is not considering a reintroduction of restrictions at this point.

It comes as the World Health Organisation said there were more than 11 million new Covid infections last week – about an 8% rise.

Despite the rise in cases, the number of new coronavirus deaths reported worldwide fell by 17% in the last week.

The biggest increases in cases were seen in the Western Pacific and Africa, where infections rose by 29% and 12% respectively.