HSE boss Paul Reid says the pressure on the critical care system is “relentless”.
It’s as 211 patients with the virus were recorded in Intensive Care Units yesterday.
Of these four are in the unit at St Luke’s General for Carlow and Kilkenny, among 29 patients at the hospital with Coronavirus after one new admission. While there are two further suspected cases there.
University Hospital Waterford again has the highest number of patients battling the virus with 108 there, seven of them in ICU, after one new admission and two further suspected cases.
There are still no available critical care beds at either facility.
15 people with the virus have died while 1,247 more people have tested positive, 13 of them in Carlow with up to four more in Kilkenny.
Carlow’s still in the higher three counties for the 14-day incidence rate at 725.4 per 100,000 while Kilkenny’s in the lower three with 234.8. The national figure stands at 501.0.
Infectious diseases consultant Professor Sam McConkey says the health system needs to go beyond simply testing close contacts of confirmed cases.
Meanwhile, for the first time, an Air Corps helicopter was used at the weekend to move a Covid-19 patient from Kerry to Dublin for intensive care.
Vaccine
Pharma firm AstraZeneca will now deliver 40 million doses of its vaccine against Covid-19 by the end of March.
It’s been called a “step forward” by Brussels, after the bitter row over supply cuts which nearly derailed the Brexit agreement on the North.
The one-shot Astrazeneca vaccine only needs to be stored at fridge temperature and would have been the workhorse of Europe’s inoculation drive.
Brussels was expecting 80 million doses by the end of March at least.
But that was before the pharma firm said a production glitch meant it had it to slash its deliveries by around 60%, right down to 31 million doses.
Now it seems Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is settling for about half.
In a statement last night, she said AstraZeneca would supply nine million extra doses, bringing the deliveries planned up to the end of March up to an even 40 million.
Ireland has been getting about 1% of the EU’s total vaccine deliveries, so last night’s announcement means the HSE is in line to receive around 90-thousand more doses.
Isle of Man
All lockdown restrictions are being lifted on the Isle of Man today.
Schools and businesses will reopen, and residents are no longer being asked to stay at home.
Border controls restricting travel to the island remain in place.
