PUBLIC HEALTH OFFICIALS have confirmed 5,959 new cases of Covid-19 in Ireland.

As of 8am today, there were 640 Covid-19 patients in hospital, of whom 121 were receiving intensive care.

Yesterday, there were 3,138 new cases of Covid-19, 643 people with the virus in hospital and 118 in ICUs.

Officials also said on Wednesday that a further 43 deaths related to the virus 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.

Speaking on Newstalk today, Director of the National Virus Reference Laboratory Dr Cillian de Gascun said it was “naive” to think vaccines alone would be enough to stop the spread of the Delta variant of Covid-19.

Ireland is on a “very concerning and worrying trajectory”, Dr de Gascun said, with the Delta variant of the virus “not quite as susceptible to the vaccine” as previously thought. 

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This, combined with waning immunity, has put the country on its current path, he told Newstalk. 

— Additional reporting by Eoghan Dalton