By Tomas Doherty
Eight further deaths and 6,888 new cases of Covid-19 have been recorded in the Republic.
Of the new cases, 320 were in Waterford, 2,088 were in Dublin, 862 in Cork, 469 in Limerick, 405 in Wexford and the remaining 2,744 cases spread across all other counties.
The incidence rate in Waterford is now 1,644.9 and there have been 1,911 cases over the past 14 days.
The latest figures show 1,452 Covid-19 patients are in hospital, with 125 in intensive care.
Monaghan has the highest incidence rate in the country at 2,525 cases per 100,000, followed by Louth at 2,201 and Limerick at 1,878.
The latest figures come as the HSE confirmed it is accessing the surge capacity agreed with private hospitals as the system comes under increasing pressure.
HSE chief executive Paul Reid said private hospitals have begun providing some non-Covid urgent care to public patients in recent days.
An agreement was reached between the HSE and private hospitals last week which gives the HSE access to additional capacity if needed.
“It would be surge up to 30 per cent of bed utilisation which gives us in essence working with private hospitals over 600 beds to call on,” Mr Reid told RTÉ Radio 1’s This Week programme.
“We are, actually, calling on that right now. Already this week, private hospitals are taking some urgent non-Covid care and supporting us. So we have in essence triggered those processes already.”
Mr Reid said that the actions the health service has taken this week were geared towards helping the system cope in the coming days and weeks, but the situation is “concerning”.
The number of people in hospital with Covid-19 has more than quadrupled in the past two weeks, as 321 people were in hospital with the virus on December 27th.
Northern Ireland
Meanwhile, a further 17 people have died of coronavirus in Northern Ireland, the Department of Health confirmed.
Another 1,112 people tested positive for Covid-19 in the past 24 hours.
Two of the deaths reported occurred outside of the period.
It brings the total number of people who died of the virus to 1,460 and the total confirmed cases to 88,700 since the pandemic began.
It comes as SDLP MLA Justin McNulty shared a video of ambulances lined up outside Daisy Hill Hospital in Newry on Saturday night.
Daisy Hill Hospital tonight. This is so scary for patients and staff. God bless them all. pic.twitter.com/75g9FXZR0e
— Justin McNulty (@JustinMcNu1ty) January 9, 2021
He tweeted the footage saying: “Daisy Hill Hospital tonight. This is so scary for patients and staff. God bless them all.”
Northern Ireland’s health system is under severe pressure – hospitals are almost at full capacity and cancer surgery procedures are among the operations cancelled in Belfast.
There are now 703 people with the virus in hospitals across the region and 53 in intensive care units.
New lockdown restrictions preventing people from leaving home except for essential reasons came into effect on Friday.
The strict rules will remain in place until February 6th but will be reviewed later this month. – Additional reporting: PA
