The health service is "really struggling" due to the latest surge in Covid-19 cases, HSE Chief Operations Officer Anne O'Connor has said. "Whether it's in our hospitals, our community services, our national ambulance service, we are really struggling in terms of the level of Covid across services and across our staff".
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland Ms O'Connor said that 1,338 people were in hospital with the coronavirus at 8pm yesterday.
More than 21,000 new cases of Covid-19 were recorded yesterday. Cases are up 29% in the last seven days, she said. About half of those in hospital at the moment have been admitted to hospital due to Covid, she said.
Everyone with Covid has to be treated on a Covid ward and that restricts what care can be given for other medical issues, she explained. "I think the real concern here is just the balance across our system in terms of people coming in with Covid and then people presenting in our emergency departments who are very sick and need different types of care".