There are only four ICU beds in Dublin, a worrying update from the HSE has revealed.
The number of patients hospitalised with COVID-19 in the capital has dropped to 498 from yesterday's 531.
But grim figures show that there are only four adult ICU beds left across Dublin hospitals including two in Beaumont, one in Tallaght, and one in Connolly.
This morning Health Minister Stephen Donnelly dealt a huge blow after he said it is unlikely we will see any widespread reopening of the country by March 5.
He told RTE's Morning Ireland: "As we come to the March 5 which is when the measures have been extended to, I think to be honest [the decision] will be less around how many people have been vaccinated and more to do with the progress of the disease and how much it has been suppressed in the community.
"It's probably too early to speculate on exactly what will happen in March. What we can say with some certainty is that everything would not be opening from the March 6 particularly with this UK variant.
"For the next five weeks, we've got to focus on two things.
"Suppressing the virus, and that really means people staying at home. We've got to focus on getting the vaccines in and getting them into people's arms as quickly as possible and then start looking at a controlled and careful reopening."
Here is a breakdown of the coronavirus cases in Dublin hospitals as of 8 pm last night:
Confirmed cases (total 498)
- Connolly - 89
- Mater -88
- St Vincent's - 87
- St James's - 81
- Tallaght - 79
- Beaumont - 74
Suspected cases (total 83)
- St James's - 52
- St Vincent's - 9
- Beaumont - 7
- CHI Crumlin - 4
- CHI Tallaght - 3
- CHI Temple Street - 3
- Connolly - 3
- Tallaght - 2
Confirmed cases in ICU (total 63)
- St James's - 18
- St Vincent's - 14
- Mater - 14
- Beaumont - 12
- Tallaght - 10
- Connolly - 5
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