PUBLIC HEALTH OFFICIALS have confirmed 4,141 new cases of Covid-19 in Ireland, as the Omicron variant is now estimated to make up 27% of total cases.

As of 8am today, 443 people are in hospital with the coronavirus, including 108 patients in intensive care units.

Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly has said it is estimated that the Omicron variant represents 27% of all new Covid-19 cases in Ireland.

It means the number of cases linked to the new variant has doubled in the last few days.  

Chief Medical Officer Tony Holohan said earlier this week that they are estimating the number of possible Omicron cases by identifying the number of PCR results with S-gene target failure – similar to when the Alpha variant emerged in Ireland.

In terms of official confirmed cases of the Omicron variant, the Department of Health said this evening that it has revised down the number of cases to 39. It had been 42 as of yesterday.

Donnelly also said that boosters provide a “dramatic and essential additional protection”.

Donnelly said people in their 40s would be able to get appointments for their booster jabs at mass vaccination centres next week. 

Yesterday, 4,325 new cases of coronavirus were confirmed, a total of 470 Covid-19 patients were in hospital and 105 people were in ICU. 

The National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) said yesterday that there had been 47 deaths notified in the past week, bringing Ireland’s total to 5,835.

Last Wednesday, a total of 81 deaths were reported.

With reporting from Cate McCurry, PA