PUBLIC HEALTH OFFICIALS have confirmed 3,893 new cases of Covid-19 in Ireland, as the Tánaiste said that the current Covid-19 wave looked to be “plateauing at a worrying high level”.

Speaking at his parliamentary party meeting this evening, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said the country does not want to be going into Christmas with this high a plateau of cases.

The Fine Gael leader said the Covid trajectory is uncertain, but added that everything would be done to avoid another lockdown.

Varadkar said his sense is people are responding positively to the guidelines with fewer contacts in a bid to stop the current wave.

He told his colleagues that the ‘third-dose’ programme is working and that cases are falling in the over 70s – the group who would have received a third vaccine dose. 

Party colleagues heard the FG leader anticipated a positive decision to vaccinate 5 to 11-year-olds at a future stage, but he also said that a subsidised antigen testing system would not be finalised until Tuesday.

As of 8am today, there were 611 Covid-19 patients in hospital, of whom 132 were in ICUs.

Yesterday, 3,666 new cases of Covid-19 were notified to authorities, with 638 patients in hospital and 130 patients in ICU.

The National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) said that there had been 43 deaths notified to them in the past week, bringing Ireland’s total to 5,652. In the previous week there had been 43 deaths notified.

Deaths related to Covid-19 are being announced on a weekly basis, with health authorities citing the HSE data breach in May as the reason for this.

It does not necessarily mean all deaths confirmed today occurred in the past week, as the system in Ireland allows a period of time for families to register the death of a relative.

The deaths announced today are the number of Covid-19 related deaths reported to health authorities in the past seven days.

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CMO Dr Tony Holohan said that in the past week, around 1 in 7 adults have had flu-like, cold-like, or Covid-like symptoms.

The most important action you can take if you experience any symptoms of Covid-19 is to self-isolate immediately. This means staying indoors and avoiding contact with other people, including, in so far as possible, those you live with.

“Arrange to take a PCR test, not an antigen test, and continue to self-isolate while you wait for your test and the results.

“I understand this is difficult, but in order to avoid passing Covid-19 or other respiratory illnesses on to your friends, family or work colleagues, rapidly self-isolating as soon as symptoms begin is the most important thing you can do.

“It’s also important to remember you still need to isolate for as long as you’re symptomatic, and until 48 hours after your symptoms have settled, even if your PCR did not detect Covid-19.”

Deputy CMO Dr Ronan Glynn said today that the Covid-19 pandemic is “out of control” in Ireland and NPHET may have to recommend measures to clamp down on the spread of the virus.

“We’ll just have to see where we are in a week/10 days time and, if necessary, provide further advice at that point,” he said.