Two new Covid strains are set to become dominant in Ireland as one top doctor revealed he is worried about people being reinfected.
HSE Chief Clinical Officer Dr Colm Henry said he was concerned about the rising number of people being hospitalised with the virus.
He warned that people could be reinfected with Covid as two sub-variants of Omicron, BA.4 and BA.5 variants, are "becoming more widespread because of their ability to escape immunity".
This comes as the number of patients in hospital with Covid-19 rose to 453 on Monday, with 22 people in ICU.
This is a steady increase from 397 hospitalisations on Sunday, June 12, and a 171% increase from two weeks ago on May 28 when there were just 167 patients in hospital with Covid-19.
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Additionally, one in four (25.4%) of people who were tested for Covid-19 on Monday were returning positive results.
Dr Henry warned: "We are concerned certainly at the increasing hospitalisations."
"What we are seeing is people reinfected after getting previous variants.
"It is all the more reason to encourage people over 65 and the immunocompromised to get their second booster."
