THERE WERE OVER 1,000 confirmed cases of Covid-19 confirmed in Ireland last week, a 60% increase on the week before.

The Health Surveillance Protection Centre (HSPC) said that indicators continue to show moderate to high levels of Covid-19 transmission.

A total of 1,042 cases of Covid-19 were notified to the Computerised Infectious Disease Reporting system (CIDR) between 9-15 June, up from 650 cases the previous week.

The number of people hospitalised as a result also increase by 56% in the same period, with 486 hospitalisations reported, compared to 321 the week before.

The number of patients in hospital with the virus on the morning of Tuesday 25 June rose to 459 from 395 the week before.

Admissions of people to ICU stayed stable, however, with just 25 patients in intensive care units with the disease. There was also a rise in outbreak notifications in healthcare settings over the same period.

The main Covid variant in Ireland is the JN.1. Prevalence of the KP.3 variant is also increasing as cases rise. The HSPC said that KP.3 appears to have a growth advantage over other variants but there is no evidence that it is associated with a more disease than other variants.

In a statement, the HSPC said that as in previous waves “widespread circulation of COVID-19 often leads to an increase in people experiencing severe disease”.

“Increased circulation in the community also leads to increased numbers of outbreaks in nursing homes, hospitals and other healthcare settings, putting vulnerable patients at risk of infection and leading to COVID-19-related healthcare staff shortages.

This current wave is a reminder that COVID-19 continues to circulate throughout the year and remains a considerable burden on the population and our health services when circulation is high.