By Kenneth Fox
As of this morning there are a record 158 people in ICU with Covid-19 and a further 1,700 in hospital with the virus.
At the peak of the first wave of Covid-19 there were 155 people in ICU. Critical care units in 13 hospitals are at full capacity while only 30 adult ICU beds are free nationwide.
As of 8pm last night, there were a record 63 patients with Covid, six of those are in critical care units.
HSE chief, Paul Reid has urged people to stay at home in an effort to stop the health service becoming overwhelmed.
In a post on Twitter, Mr Reid said: “Nobody wants more people sick with Covid-19. 1,700 patients now in hospital & 143 in ICU would swap with any of us.
“The big ask of everyone is to stay at home & help get our hospitals & nursing homes back to safer levels. Our healthcare teams ask just this of us.”
Nobody wants more people sick with #COVID19. 1,700 patients now in hospital & 143 in ICU would swap with any of us. The big ask of everyone is to stay at home & help get our hospitals & nursing homes back to safer levels. Our healthcare teams ask just this of us. @HSELive
— Paul Reid (@paulreiddublin) January 12, 2021
Ireland has had 152,539 confirmed cases of the virus and 2,352 Covid-related deaths since the beginning of the pandemic.
Yesterday, 4,929 new cases of the virus were confirmed and eight new deaths. Over the past seven days 173,845 tests have been carried out, with a positivity rate of 20 per cent.
Massive surge
It comes as around 4,000 healthcare workers are unavailable at present due to being sick with Covid-19 or close contacts.
The HSE’s Dr Vida Hamilton said unfortunately hospital numbers will continue to rise: “We are currently in the midst of a massive surge. We predict we will have over 2,000 patients with Covid-19 in hospital next week.
“We also predict we will have over 200 people in critical care next week with Covid-19 as well.”
Thankfully, she said we are in a much better position to deal with the surge as opposed to Italy back in March. This is mainly because much more is known about the virus and also how to prepare for it.
