Covid surge blamed for 25% spike in SouthDoc attendances over St Patrick's weekend

'I have never had the number of positives that I entered on Monday, I’ve never had that many altogether,' said Killarney GP Dr Gary Stack.

SouthDoc transport at its base near the Kinsale Road roundabout. Picture: Eddie O'Hare

The SouthDoc out-of-hours GP service saw 25% more people each day over the St Patrick’s Day holiday than on a typical bank holiday because Covid-19 is "rampant across Cork and Kerry".

Around 6,000 people contacted the service, many for respiratory symptoms, according to SouthDoc clinical director and Killarney GP Dr Gary Stack.