Health authorities have confirmed that seven women that tested positive for Covid-19 gave birth while in ICU at Irish hospitals.
Speaking at today's NPHET press conference, Dr Michael Power, the National Clinical Lead for the HSE critical care programme, told how between January and August of this year, 16 pregnant women were in ICU.
Of these women, 7 babies were delivered to Covid-positive mothers in ICU during 2021
Power said: “Since January to August of this year there have been 16 women who have been admitted to the ICUs in Ireland, there were none admitted in 2020. Of those 16 women, 10 received an invasive ventilator. Seven women were delivered of the pregnancy while in the ICU and thankfully, of those 16 women were admitted to the ICU, there were no fatalities. Additionally, in terms of foetal outcome, there were no neonatal deaths either.
In total, 16 pregnant women have been admitted to ICU with Covid so far in 2021.
Compared to last year, the rise was steep because zero Covid-positive mothers were admitted to the ICU in 2020
Of these 16 women, 10 pregnant women were ventilated.
The HSE has also confirmed that all cases had positive outcomes.
At present, the HSE advice to pregnant women is that, while most who get Covid-19 will have moderate to mild symptoms, they are more likely than women who are not pregnant to become very unwell and need treatment in intensive care.
If any pregnant woman is not already protected, they're being urged to get both doses of a Covid-19 vaccine between 14 and 36 weeks of pregnancy.
In terms of Ireland's current epidemiological situation, 1,571 new cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed with 307 people in hospital, of which 55 are in ICU.
Dr Tony Holohan has said: “On average, we have reported 1,814 confirmed cases of Covid-19 per day for the last 5 days. Our 14-day incidence is now 526 per 100,000 population. This is an extremely high incidence of disease circulating in our communities.
Despite this rise in cases due to the Delta variant, the CMO also has signalled he would not have a “major concern” if Electric Picnic went ahead with only fully vaccinated people allowed to attend.
Speaking at the NPHET briefing, Dr Holohan said he wouldn’t have a major concern with outdoor events going ahead for those who are fully vaccinated.
When asked whether outdoor events such as Electric Picnic could be permitted for those who are fully vaccinated, the CMO said “we wouldn’t have a major concern to express in public health terms about that if that could be achieved.”
He adds" “We wouldn't have a concern from a public health point of view to express about an event that happened that was confined to vaccinated people.
“We are in a slightly different position than when we would have considered some of these things earlier in the year in that the level of the disease that we have in the population..so we now have vaccinated people with the disease, that are symptomatic and are capable of transmitting this disease to other people.
“But the risks of a vaccinated person transmitting the disease and it being picked up by another vaccinated person, although they exist, are very, very small.
“So we wouldn’t have a major concern to express in public health terms about that if that could be achieved.”
Dr Holohan has also urged unvaccinated GAA fans not to attend the upcoming All-Ireland semi-final and final.
When asked if unvaccinated people should attend the upcoming football clash between Kerry and Tyrone and the All Ireland final in the coming weeks, he said: “As an unvaccinated person, it’s really not a responsible place to be.”
He said enough fully vaccinated people should fill the capacity permitted, 40,000, for the All Ireland final.
