Ireland has recorded another day of massive Covid-19 case numbers.
Public health officials confirmed 20,110 new infections on Thursday. It’s not far off the record 20,554 new cases that were reported on Thursday.
There are currently 683 patients in hospital with Covid-19, of which 86 are in ICU.
Confirming the latest numbers, Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan warned: “January will likely be a difficult time.”
However, he said there are “reasons for cautious optimism” in 2022 due to “advances in science and public health including the development of new treatments like antivirals and monoclonal antibodies and the continued evolution of our understanding of this virus.”
He said all of that “give us grounds to hope that 2022 may be a better year from a Covid point of view than either 2020 or 2021.”
Commenting on today’s case numbers, the CMO said: “Once again, we are reporting another very high number of confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Ireland. The number of people in hospital with COVID-19 is continuing to increase.”
He appealed for people to not to gather in large numbers on New Year’s Eve, saying: “These collective efforts are necessary to protect ourselves, our loved ones and our health service.”
Dr Holohan also thanked health staff for their work during the pandemic.
“It is timely today to remember all of those who continue to contribute so much to our response to Covid-19, particularly the individual and collective efforts of our frontline healthcare workers who are now facing into a third year of pandemic response.
“In the most challenging of circumstances, they continue to work to protect public health and to maintain access to services across all parts of our health service. In the delivery of both Covid and non-Covid services, patients and their families have benefitted from their empathy, skill, and care.
“January will likely be a difficult time and I would like to thank all of our health care workers most sincerely for their efforts.
“We also remember those who have sadly died with Covid-19 in Ireland since the beginning of this pandemic, along with their families and loved ones who are grieving their loss.
“We must all remember that it is our collective, national response and the ongoing and extraordinary sacrifices each one of us is making that will break the chains of transmission, minimise the pressure on our health service, ensure that as few families as possible are similarly impacted in 2022 and lead to brighter days ahead," he said.
