Donnelly: It’s going to get worse
THE Health Minister has warned the deteriorating Covid situation is ‘going to get worse before it gets better’ as a further 2,399 cases of the virus were confirmed yesterday.
Daily Covid-19 case numbers have increased by between 40 and 50% over the last month, Stephen Donnelly warned, as the country recorded the highest number of daily cases of the virus since January 22.
He warned that these case figures will lead to more hospitalisations in the coming weeks and higher numbers requiring ICU treatment.
It comes as the most pessimistic projections from the National Public Health Emergency Team indicated numbers could rise to 800 to 1,000 hospitalisations per day and 150 to 200 in ICU, which would result in the widespread cancellation of other procedures once again. Furthermore, NPHET told the Government that should the latest changes to reopening not have a sufficient effect on the profile of Covid-19, the reimposition of public health restrictive measures may be warranted. Minister Donnelly told RTÉ’s News at One: ‘The advice we’ve had from NPHET is really a serious note of caution. We’re seeing about a 40% to 50% increase in average daily cases over the last month. So this has moved quite quickly. ‘The result of that is more people in hospital.’ Speaking as the Government announced a revised reopening plan, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said: ‘We’re not where we hope to be or expected to be for October 22.’ It comes as new figures show that up to 26 children have been recently hospitalised with Covid-19 and a number admitted to intensive care.
The latest data emerged as a second primary school, Hollywood NS in Co. Wicklow, closed its doors to pupils this week over concerns after a Covid outbreak.