Over 50 patients caught Covid-19 while 14 tragically died during a six week period at just one Irish hospital.
The information has been revealed in a new study by a group of scientists from UCD, which was carried out early in the pandemic.
The research tracked the genome sequences of cases of Covid-19 which were picked up in the Dublin hospital in a bid to track its "transmission route".
It is understood that in most cases, patients actually caught the virus from health care workers, according to the report.
And shockingly, one elderly patient was also said to have "wandered" into the corridor and was identified as a "super-spreader".
Speaking about the "super-spreader", the study says: "[The patient] would characteristically shout directly into faces of staff members passing by."
Also, the study claims that workers often would not wear masks when communicating with colleagues, Dublin Live reports.
It added: "Upon questioning, staff reported that surgical masks were frequently removed in the nurses’ station when communicating with each other and replaced for patient interactions."
During that six-week period, there was as many as six different clusters of the virus in the capital hospital.
The conclusion from the pioneering Irish study found that 52 patients were infected with Covid-19 in the Dublin hospital between March 23 and May 7 with 14 dying from coronavirus complications.
The full study, Whole-genome sequencing to track SARS-CoV-2 transmission in nosocomial outbreaks, which was completed by scientists at UCD, can be found here.
