'Significant increase' in hospitalisations as 744 Covid-19 cases confirmed

Chief Medical Officer, Dr Tony Holohan said due to the lower volume of tests carried out over Christmas Day and St Stephen's Day, he believes there are higher levels of disease circulating in the community than today's numbers reflect.

"We expect, therefore, to see a large increase in cases reported over the coming days."

As of 8am this morning, there are 324 Covid-19 patients in hospital, of which 26 are in ICU.

There have been 50 additional hospitalisations in the past 24 hours.

Dr Holohan said the current situation in hospitals is a reminder of the severity of the disease.

"We have seen a significant increase in the number of hospitalisations in the last two weeks from less than 190 to 324 today.

"This indicates a deteriorating disease trajectory nationally and is a significant reminder of the severity of this disease.

"There have been further increases across key indicators of Covid-19 right across the country and the growth rate of the epidemic has accelerated in recent days."

Dr Holohan reminded people to stay home, not to have visitors over and not to visit friends or family unless providing essential care.

Of today's 744 reported cases, Dublin accounts for the largest number with 246 cases.

Cork has the second-highest number of cases with 131 followed by Limerick with 51, Wexford with 40 and Donegal with 33.

The remaining 243 cases are spread across 19 other counties.

The national 14-day incidence rate per 100,000 currently stands at 209.6.

The incident rate in Donegal is double the national rate at 425.9.

Three other counties have a 14-day rate above 300 - Wexford at 348.6, Limerick at 334.5 and Louth at 305.7.

Today's numbers come as the HSE hopes to begin vaccinations on Tuesday, December 29 - a day earlier than planned.

HSE chief Paul Reid told RTÉ's This Week it is the intention to start the vaccinations early next week.

Ireland will be the third-last country in the EU to start giving the shots as the HSE grapples with staff training.

Today is the day for the European Union's rollout of the Covid-19 vaccine after 27 states across the bloc each got their first doses yesterday.

Germany, Hungary and Slovenia started giving injections ahead of schedule last night with doctors in 18 other nations starting first thing today.

Ireland's 10,000 doses will remain in cold storage until Tuesday at least.

The HSE says it is still finalising training and education materials for vaccinators and preparing an e-learning programme.

Staff at the four vaccine sites still have to be trained before the first vaccinations can be given.

That was originally planned for Wednesday, December 30 but HSE boss Paul Reid has since confirmed it is being moved up a day to Tuesday.

By then all EU states except Ireland, Belgium and the Netherlands will have administered the first doses.

Tánaiste Leo Varadkar has admitted Ireland is starting the roll-out at a slower pace than other countries.

"I think we will start a little bit slower but catch up. We are part of the European system, we get 1.11% of the vaccine and that's in proportion with our population.

I think we will probably start slower than in other countries but we will catch up. I don't see it as a race.

"I think it's important that we do it right."

Meanwhile, the country has re-entered Level 5 restrictions in a bid to slow the rapid rise in case numbers that have been seen over the past two weeks.

From today, travel outside your county is not permitted. Travelling outside your county is only allowed for essential purposes such as attending medical appointments, providing care or if your work is considered essential and cannot be done from home.

People who have spent Christmas away from their own residence are permitted to return home at their own pace.

The number of households allowed to visit another home has been reduced to one and will stay at one household until December 31.

All shops are staying open but they have been asked to defer the usual January sales.

Christmas Eve saw the closure of restaurants, gastropubs, hairdressers and barbers.

A public health expert says things will "hopefully" be back to normal by Christmas 2021.

DCU Professor of Health Systems, Dr Anthony Staines says it could be 11 months before businesses like pubs can open.

"Hopefully by next Christmas, this will be over but it has big implications for business, jobs and employment over the summer - particularly the hospitality industry, obviously.

"It has been suggested that 'wet pubs' might not open until next November and you have to ask, how many will there be left by next November?"