Taskforce to discuss hospital overcrowding next week for first time since September

Last week, just 277 RSV cases were identified, according to the Health Protection Surveillance Centre. Flu cases dropped to 1,573 last week from 3,079 in early January. 

The Emergency Department Taskforce will meet on Tuesday to discuss the overcrowding crisis for the first time since September.

This comes as numbers of Covid-19 patients in hospitals are falling, although 30 cases of the Omicron sub-variant known as Kraken have now been identified here, according to chief medical officer Professor Breda Smyth. Separate data shows new cases of influenza and RSV are also decreasing.