A record number of patients with Covid-19 were being treated at University Hospital Waterford last night

According to the HSE, there were 127 confirmed cases on-site at 8:00 pm.

It was the 10th day in a row that there were more than 100 patients with coronavirus at UHW.

7 patients were in critical care at the time.

221 people with Covid-19 are receiving treatment in ICU nationally this morning.

It’s the highest number since the pandemic began, while 131 people with the disease are on ventilators.

Waterford’s Incidence Rate

The 14-day incidence rate of Covid-19 in Waterford has fallen below 1,000 for the first time since the 7th of January.

According to the Health Protection Surveillance Centre, it is now 984.7 after 1,144 cases were confirmed in Waterford during the fortnight ending on the 23rd of January.

Waterford now has the sixth-highest incidence rate in the country.

The national 14-day incidence rate is 840.7.

Clarification of Waterford figures

The Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) has clarified why the number of confirmed cases of Covid-19 was adjusted downwards in Waterford several times last week.

The HPSC says address data may be incomplete when cases are first notified and the county of the testing laboratory is entered in the system as a default for the county of residence of the case.

For instance, 88 cases that were initially reported as Waterford cases were changed last Tuesday. 27 cases were changed to Wexford, 26 were moved to Tipperary, 24 to Carlow and 11 to Kilkenny.

These 88 cases had been processed by the laboratory in University Hospital Waterford and Waterford had been used as a proxy for the county of residence.