PUBLIC HEALTH OFFICIALS have confirmed 397 new cases of Covid-19 in Ireland.

The Department of Health has reported that 54 patients with Covid-19 are in hospital today, including 16 in ICU. 

Data relating to the number of deaths associated with Covid-19, as well as case numbers by county, have been affected by the cyber attack on the HSE IT systems.

Today’s figures did not contain any information about whether there were any further deaths due to the virus.

Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan said that Ireland is seeing a “small but concerning increase in hospitalisations in recent days, coming 10-14 days after the five day moving average of daily case numbers began to increase”.

“This is a cause for concern and we will be monitoring it closely in the days and weeks ahead,” Dr Holohan said.

“Full vaccination is needed to protect against Covid-19, including the Delta variant,” he said.

“To protect yourselves and your loved ones, it is extremely important to take up the opportunity of being vaccinated and come forward for your second dose as soon as it is offered to you. The second vaccination is very effective at preventing both disease and hospitalisation.”

Yesterday, there were 365 cases of Covid-19 confirmed in Ireland, 51 people in hospital, and 14 in ICU.

People who have been fully vaccinated against the virus should receive an EU Digital Covid-19 certificate in the next two weeks, which allows passengers to arrive into Ireland from other EU countries without having to quarantine.

Speaking earlier today, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said England’s decision to lift most Covid-19 restrictions is “too risky” and and that “spillover effects” will be a concern for Ireland and other countries.

However, he said that we “need to avoid getting back into a spiral of fear here” and that “the Delta wave is happening but it’s going to be different to other waves and that’s because of the vaccination programme”.