The flu death toll has risen to 19 as the country faces up to five more weeks in the danger zone.
Hospitals across the country are creaking at the seams as staff do the best they can to cope with the high numbers of infectious patients.
Dr Kevin Kelleher, the HSE’s assistant national director for public health, revealed yesterday: “We’ve seen 19 deaths so far this year.”
This was up from 18 on Friday, when the HSE and Minister for Health Simon Harris issued a grave warning that the country was reaching peak flu season.
Dr Kelleher said the flu season is expected to remain in place for another four or five weeks.
He added: “The difficulty is, with the flu season peaking over the Christmas/New Year period, that’s a difficult time for the health system anyway because of lots of different reasons. But the system has been dealing with it, people are making every effort to deal with it.”
Last week Dr Kelleher warned the death toll could hit 100 by the time the flu season ends.
But he said many people who died after being admitted to hospital with the flu had other underlying conditions.
About 650,000 people have been given the flu vaccine so far this winter.
