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6 things we learned from this evening s NPHET briefing
Updated / Monday, 1 Feb 2021
20:39
NPHET s Professor Philip Nolan, Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan, and Deputy CMO Dr Ronan Glynn
New hospital admissions are declining
There are 1,436 Covid-19 patients in hospital, with 207 in intensive care, which is down four from yesterday.
Professor Philip Nolan said the number of patients being treated in hospital has declined over the past two weeks and that the numbers in ICU have plateaued and are beginning to come down.
Professor Nolan expressed his concern at the plateau in case numbers and said that it is important to maintain individual efforts in terms of reducing contacts, in working from home, and above all to maintain efforts around the basic measures of wearing a mask, keeping your distance and hand washing .
Updated / Tuesday, 26 Jan 2021
07:07
The Department of Health has reported seven more coronavirus-related deaths.
There have been 688 deaths so far in January associated with Covid-19 and 2,977 since the beginning of the pandemic.
The median age of those who died is 77 and the age range is 43-94 years.
A further 1,372 new cases of Covid-19 have also been reported, bringing the total number of cases here to 188,923.
There are 219 people in intensive care with Covid-19, up one on yesterday.
The Chair of the National Public Health Emergency Team s Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group said there has been a continued rapid improvement in the incidence of the disease.
Waterford, Ireland / WLR
Jan 23, 2021 9:43 AM
There are now almost 700,000 people on waiting lists for hospital appointments due to severe delays caused by Covid-19 and the strain the third wave of the virus has placed on the healthcare service.
As reported in the Irish Examiner, there are now 610,000 people waiting on outpatient appointment, while a further 72,000 are awaiting inpatient or day case procedures the Oireachtas Health Committee has heard.
A senior HSE manager said the number of people on waiting lists has increased to an “unacceptable number”, while staff shortages continue to plague the health service.
Currently, there are 6,000 hospital staff off work for ‘Covid-related reasons’, including having tested positive for the virus themselves, or having been identified as a close contact.