LATEST: 524 new cases of virus confirmed as hospitalisations increase
A further 524 new cases of Covid-19 were confirmed this evening while numbers in hospitals across the country increased slightly.
The Department of Health reported 107 people are being treated for the virus in hospitals, up four on yesterday, while 38 people are being treated in Intensive Care Units, the same as yesterday’s figures.
There have been 19 additional hospitalisations in the past 24 hours.
The county-by-county breakdown of the latest cases are not available due to the HSE ransomware attack.
Dr. Tony Holohan, Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health, said; “NPHET is closely monitoring variants of concern, and are concerned about possible higher transmissibility of the so called Indian variant and its spread in other countries as well as early reports of its impact on vaccine effectiveness.
“The public are keeping the disease under control and the HSE is increasing the number of people vaccinated every day. But the variant may nevertheless pose a risk to the progress we have made.
“NPHET will keep a close eye on this as we move towards the end of May and consider the advice we need to provide to Government on any further easing of restrictions,” Dr Holohan concluded.
Services in St Luke’s General Hospital remain disrupted due to the attack and management have released the latest update:
Cancelled
The following services have been cancelled:
- Oncology clinic.
- Some specialist diagnostic services.
X-ray and cardiac diagnostic services are disrupted.
Going ahead
The following services are going ahead:
- Emergency Department – expect delays.
- Urgent day case procedures are taking place but emergency cases are being prioritised.
- Day case oncology treatment in UPMC Auteven. If you have a query about your appointment, contact the clinic secretary with the details on your appointment letter.
- Routine physiotherapy appointments.
- Antenatal clinics and classes.
- Inpatient services remain mostly unaffected. There are delays to blood test and x-ray results while manual systems are in place.
