Covid Ireland cases today as expert warns of ‘next phases' and country braces for St Patrick's surge
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Loading... - Ella Murph
- 16 Mar 2022
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More than 16,000 new Covid cases have been confirmed as concern grows about a St Patrick’s Day surge.
Health officials registered 6,284 PCR cases on Monday, as well as a further 9,735 positive antigen tests - bringing the total to 16,019.
This is the highest number of daily new cases confirmed since January.
As of 8am today, 1,047 patients are in hospital with Covid, of which 42 are in ICU.
With all Covid restrictions now gone and hundreds of thousands of people due to descend on Dublin city for the first national St Patrick’s Day parade in two years, there is some concern about what impact it may have on Covid cases.
The head of the ICU at University Hospital Limerick has said that she would not be surprised to see a surge in Covid cases after St Patrick's Day.
Dr Catherine Motherway said she was "a little concerned" about the current trend in cases.
Speaking to RTE, Dr Motherway noted that Ireland's vaccination rate is high, so there is less worry about the statistics than there would have been last year.
Meanwhile, another expert has warned that “we don't know what the next phases are going to be”.
Dr Eoghan De Barra, a consultant in infectious diseases, told Newstalk that an increase in Covid infections is already happening.
“There most certainly will be an increase in cases - there is already an increase in cases, society is open, people are interacting. Read More...
