On Thursday evening, according to the HSE, 244 critical care beds were occupied, 27 of them with Covid-19 patients, and 34 remained free. The HSE reckons it can scale up to 350 ICU beds to meet a surge in demand – that’s about 100 more than are currently occupied. When asked this week, officials declined to specify how many weeks’ ICU supply is in the system based on current trends. Demand for hospital beds always starts rising at this time of year as respiratory complaints spread. The health service is likely to react by cancelling elective work to make way for a surge in virus patients, something it does every year during flu season.

Source: The Irish Times October 09, 2020 18:11 UTC