HEALTH OFFICIALS HAVE reported 765 new confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Ireland.

A further one patient with the illness has died in the past 24 hours, according to a statement from the National Public Health Emergency Team.

An additional 41 people have been hospitalised with the disease.

Highlighting a sharp increase in hospitalisations in recent days, chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan said in a statement that more people have now been hospitalised during the third wave of the virus than during the entirety of the second wave.

The death toll from the disease in Ireland now stands at 2,205, with a total of 86,894 confirmed cases.

Of the cases notified today:

• 401 are men / 358 are women
• 70% are under 45 years of age
• The median age is 33 years old
• 291 in Dublin, 63 in Cork, 59 in Monaghan, 49 in Louth, 43 in Meath, and the remaining 260 cases are spread across all other counties. 

There are currently 359 Covid patients in hospital. Thirty of these people are in intensive care. The HSE said there have been 41 additional hospitalisations in the past 24 hours, with five additional admissions to ICU.

Chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan: “The data we are reporting today are lower than days up to 26 December. This, however, results from factors related to the time of the year, such as the lower rates of attendance and referrals and presentation for testing for several days over Christmas.”

“Today we are reporting that we have now exceeded the cumulative number of people hospitalised in this third wave than in the second. Hospitalisations have increased sharply in the last two days. This is a concerning trend which reflects the sharp increase incidence we saw in the last 10 days.”

Holohan added that there has also been a steep rise in the positivity rates in community testing with a seven day average of over 9.2% up from 5.2% on 18 December.

“This indicates that the virus is increasing its foothold out in our communities. This is just one more reason why we are strongly advising everyone to stay safely at home to avoid transmitting or catching this virus, as it continues to circulate widely,” Holohan added.

With reporting by Garreth MacNamee and Ian Curran