There is an “imminent risk” of increasing admissions to hospital and critical care and a “high likelihood” hospital capacity will be exceeded if current Covid-19 trends continue, the Minister for Health was warned earlier this week. Stephen Donnelly was also told, in a letter sent by chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan on Monday, that deaths are “now at imminent risk of increasing”. Meanwhile, the percentage of positive tests was growing, and referrals for swabbing on Monday had doubled in a week. He said there was “high and rapidly increasing incidence and widespread community transmission”, with multiple clusters. Admissions to hospital and critical care had not decreased substantially and “are now at an imminent risk of increasing”.

Source: The Irish Times December 23, 2020 12:56 UTC