Ireland has seen yet another alarming spike in Covid cases this evening as a further 1,754 infections were recorded.
Sadly another 11 deaths were tragically confirmed.
Concerns continue to grow about the current situation in Ireland as cases continue to spiral.
Speaking on today's figures Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan said: “The most concerning trend at present is the rapidly increasing number of people being admitted to hospital - we are now admitting between 50 – 70 people a day to our hospital system.
"Unfortunately, we expect this to get worse before it gets better. Our health system will not continue to cope with this level of impact.
"We have also seen a significant increase in positive laboratory tests in recent days reflecting a true increase in the incidence of the disease as well as the delay in people coming forward for testing over the Christmas period.
"As our systems catch up with these effects it places significant pressure on our reporting system."
His comments come as NPHET also revealed that they are expected to confirm a further 9,000 Covid cases in the coming days.
While Covid infections are all across the country there are a number of areas that are recording very concerning levels of the virus.
Currently Monaghan is showing very concerning trends with a 14-day incidence rate per 100,000 population sitting at 581.6.
This is a stark comparison to the national incidence of 321.3.
Not far behind Monaghan is Donegal with an incidence of 552.2, followed by Louth (528.4) and Limerick (506.4).
A number of other counties while significantly lower, still have a very high incidence rate.
These include Wexford (370.7), Cavan (364.9), Dublin (358.9) and Kilkenny (351.7)
