Taoiseach urges public to get booster after spike in Covid cases

There are 907 Covid patients in Irish hospitals, with 37 of them being treated in intensive care units (ICUs).

Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said the surge in Covid-19 cases in recent days is evidence that more people need to get booster jabs to protect the wider community. 

Almost 16,000 new cases of Covid-19 were confirmed by the Department of Health yesterday and the seven-day positivity rate has increased to 34.1%, from 30.4% last Friday and 27.9% two weeks ago.

The latest figures reveal that 907 Covid patients are in hospitals, with 37 of them being treated in intensive care units (ICUs). 

So far, 2.8m boosters have been administered in Ireland but the Taoiseach says more boosters are needed. 

Mr Martin said the situation in hospitals across the country is “very challenging”, and will be for the coming weeks.

"We're keeping a very close eye on it,” he said.

I would appeal to people who are now due vaccination to get vaccinated. Get your booster. There are a lot of people who have gotten Covid did not get boosted. 

"It's absolutely essential that people get the booster because even the evidence of those in hospital, those in difficulty are those who didn't get vaccinated.

"The problem in our hospitals is, of course, that once a person is diagnosed as having Covid, that leads to a whole range of isolation interventions by the hospital and reduces capacity. That is the impact on the hospital service, which is problematic."

Professor Sam McConkey.

Head of the Department of International Health at the Royal College of Surgeons Professor Sam McConkey has said Covid is still "spreading widely" in Ireland, but he is "reassured" that they are not seeing huge numbers of people very sick in hospital or ICU, or needing massive amounts of oxygen like they did last year and the year before.

"I’d still encourage all the folk who are not yet vaccinated to get vaccinated, that makes it much milder," he said.

"Given all the other horrible things that are going on around us, it’s not a sort of national priority at this stage, but for the unfortunate people that have it, particularly if the immunocompromised are not vaccinated, it’s still an individual worry for those individuals."