Two people are fighting for their lives with suspected Covid-19 at a hospital which has had little or no confirmed cases for more than two months.
South Tipperary General Hospital was treating no coronavirus patients on the vast majority of days since the beginning of May.
And despite having no person there on Wednesday night who had tested positive for the bug, staff were treating two people in ICU who are suspected of contracting the virus.
There were also two suspected Covid-19 critical care patients in University Hospital Limerick - a hospital which has regularly reported a high number of possible cases on site.
In terms of confirmed cases in ICUs in Ireland, the number remained at nine for a second day in a row.
The Mater in Dublin was the worst hit with three, while Tallaght, Cork, Beaumont, Mercy and Sligo all had one patient in intensive care.
These figures are from the HSE's latest operations report which were recorded as of 8pm on Wednesday.
By this time, there were 12 people with confirmed coronavirus in a hospital setting, with a further 110 suspected cases.
It comes as the Department of Health reported no further virus related deaths on Wednesday.
However, 11 new confirmed cases were announced, bringing the total number of infections to 25,542.
The death toll in the Republic now stands at 1,738.
