THE HSE HAS confirmed 25 people have died of flu in the season to date. 

Last week there were 300 hospital admissions directly connected to flu, bringing the total for this flu season to 1,066.

These were mainly children under the age of five and people over the age of 65. 

Assistant National Director, Health Protection, Dr Kevin Kelleher told reporters today that there have been 65 Intensive Care Unit admissions in the 2018/2019 flu season to date.

He said the data from the last week would confirm it has “almost certainly” peaked. 

“But we’ve got to remember that is not a cliff-edge, it takes three or four weeks for it to go back to normal.”

Joe Ryan, Interim National Director of National Services for the HSE, said attendances at emergency departments have remained high, but this dropped during the nurses’ strike yesterday. 

He said he wanted to thank members of the public for heeding the HSE’s advice about only attending if it was absolutely essential during the industrial action as this helped keep trolley numbers down.