PUBLIC HEALTH OFFICIALS have confirmed 5,634 new cases of Covid-19 in Ireland.

As of 8am today, there were 684 Covid-19 patients in hospital, of whom 126 were in ICUs.

Officials said on Wednesday that a further 43 Covid-related deaths have been notified in the past week. This brings to 5,609 the number of people who have died with Covid-19 since the beginning of the pandemic.

Yesterday, 4,181 new cases of Covid-19 were notified to authorities, with 668 patients in hospital and 125 patients in ICU. On Saturday, there were 5,959 new cases confirmed.

“Incidence of Covid-19 is continuing to rise, and today, we are once again reporting a concerning number of confirmed cases,” Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan said in a statement this evening.

“We know that every 1,000 cases of Covid-19 will lead to 20-25 people in hospital and between two-three people requiring critical care in ICU. We also know that, since June of this year, one in four people who had Covid-19 and required critical care in our hospitals have sadly passed away,” Dr Holohan said. 

This information is not easy to hear, but it is an important reminder of the serious risk that Covid-19 continues to pose to all of us,” he said. 

Dr Holohan added: 

“We can change the trajectory of this disease by breaking the chains of transmission and the best way to do that is to continue to adhere to all the layers of the public health advice.

“We know that this will work, and we know that people are making many additional efforts to drive down incidence of disease in the community.”

Dr Holohan this morning warned that as more people use antigen tests, they must understand when it’s appropriate to use the tests.

Dr Holohan told RTÉ Radio that the “current situation is that antigen tests are widely available, they’re being widely used, but they’re not being properly used”.

The government announced last week that it would provide antigen tests for free for close contacts and in school outbreaks, but not for the wider public.

Outside of those specific circumstances, antigen tests will be made available at a subsidised cost – the details of which the Government is still finalising.

A decision on antigen tests will be made at tomorrow’s Cabinet meeting.

With reporting by Hayley Halpin