The National Public Health Emergency Team estimates that 11% of Covid-19 cases in Ireland are now due to the Omicron variant.
In a statement Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan said: "That's an increase from less than 1% only one week ago." It comes after the Department of Health announced eight more cases of the new variant have been detected in Ireland, taking the total to 18.
The CMO said they arrived at the estimation because "possible Omicron cases can be identified by the number of PCR results with 'S gene target failure' - just as we did when the Alpha variant emerged a year ago." Dr Holohan added: "While evidence on disease severity and immune escape is still emerging, it is clear this variant is more transmissible. "We are hoping