Limerick cannot afford to let Covid situation escalate further, says O'Dea

The situation in the county is being kept under review and will be closely monitored over the coming days.

People being Tested at the Covid testing in Ballysimon Industrial Estate, Limerick. Picture Brendan Gleeson

Local Fianna Fáil TD Willie O'Dea is optimistic case numbers of Covid-19 can be reduced in Limerick.

He says there have been indications the numbers have been dropping slightly over the past couple of days.

The county has about three-and-a-half times the rate of coronavirus than the national average.

Mr O'Dea says the doubling of testing capacity at one of the walk-in centres in Limerick is good news. A new online referral system has also gone live.

Another walk-in centre is to be established in the county next week.

Mr O'Dea said he would like to see one or two pop-up test centres in near the city centre or a mobile testing unit.

The situation is being kept under review and will be closely monitored over the coming days.

"We cannot afford to let this escalate any further," said Mr O'Dea.

The people of Limerick are being urged to follow public health advice and enjoy the long weekend responsibly.

Delta variant may bring higher risk of hospitalisation 

A UCD Professor says if the Delta variant grows in Ireland hospitalisations will go up.

Independent Scientific Advocacy Group member Julien Mercille the variant is more dangerous and transmissible than the Alpha one that was first detected in the UK last year.

It comes after 416 new cases of Covid-19 were confirmed and 74 people are being treated in hospital, of which 29 are in intensive care.

Prof Mercille said that once a variant of the virus is in the UK you can assume that it will arrive here at some point.

Currently, there are 10,797 cases of the Delta strain in England, 1,511 in Scotland, 97 in Wales and 26 in Northern Ireland.

By May 22, there were 114 cases of the Delta variant confirmed in Ireland with the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) reporting 59% of cases of the variant detected among people aged between 19 and 34 years of age.

Prof Mercille said public health experts in the UK are extremely concerned by how quickly the number of cases are rising due to the variant.

The latest research from the UK suggests people who have had the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine have lower antibody levels targeting the Delta variant than those against previously circulating variants in the UK.

It is also believed the Delta variant may carry a higher risk of hospitalisation.