Healthcare staff account for a quarter of cases of Covid-19 in the Republic.
948 healthcare workers have contracted coronavirus.
The latest figures from the Health Protection Surveillance Centre show 148 people are being treated in intensive care units .
The majority of patients admitted to ICU are aged under 65.
There are now over 4,200 cases of Covid-19 here and 120 people have died.
Chief Medical Officer, Dr Tony Holohan, says the majority of healthcare staff didn't pick up the virus while at work:
"For that 25 per cent, only about a quarter of them have picked up that infection, we think, in the course of work. About 50 per cent of them, it's community transmission. In other words, there isn't an identified link that's associated with their healthcare environment, we think it's picked up outside. And about a quarter of them again associated with travel. We think 6 per cent have picked this up in the course of their work."
Meanwhile, the HSE says every piece of personal protective equipment arriving in the country is being inspected to make sure it's up to standard.
It's after healthcare workers raised concerns that some of the gowns they've been given aren't fit for purpose.
Chief Clinical Officer with the HSE, Dr Colm Henry, says they're focusing on making sure there's enough PPE for medical staff:
"Our priority is to secure as much stock as we can. Of course we'd prefer to be in a different position; to be getting the exact specifications that people would want, say in peace time, but this isn't peace time. There's a worldwide shortage; in some cases countries have run out. We want to get as much stock as we can get in and deliver the right stock to the right people, to be used in the right situations."
