THE NATIONAL PUBLIC Health Emergency Team (NPHET) have not recommended any new restrictions to the Government in its letter tonight.

The Journal understands that the public health team have advised the Government to not implement any additional restrictions.

There were 23,817 new cases of Covid-19 reported today, the highest ever reported in a single day.

As of 8am today, there are 941 people in hospital with Covid-19, of whom 90 are in ICU.

Patient numbers in ICU have remained relatively stable over recent days, with Taoiseach Micheál Martin saying earlier this week that the majority of patients in ICU have a case of the Delta variant, rather than a case of the Omicron variant.

Speaking yesterday, Martin said that that clinicians within the HSE have said that Omicron “is different” but that “it’s too early to be definitive about the connection between Omicron and admissions to ICU”. 

HSE officials have said that there is “relentless strain” being placed on the healthcare service at the moment, due to high patient numbers and a significant amount of healthcare staff out sick with Covid-19.

Chief Executive of the HSE Paul Reid said that there are over 8,500 HSE staff currently off sick or restricting their movements due to Covid-19.

“From HSE perspective, we remain on kind of high alert in terms of the impacts, particularly that it’s [Omicron] having on the healthcare system overall, not just our hospitals,” said Reid.

“We are seeing literally persistent stress across the system overall, and particularly in the impacts of staff.”

There are approximately 8,500 healthcare workers out, including around 3,000 nurses and midwives as well as 1,500 health and social care staff.

However, there is no complete picture of the total number of staff out sick as current figures are based on a manual count carried out last week. He added that it could be double the manual count, and that 12.5% of the entire HSE may be off work due to Covid-19.

The HSE boss added that the level of absences were “very significant” compared to those witnessed in January last year.

The health service’s Chief Operations Officer, Anne O’Connor, told today’s briefing that staff absences are now affecting “everything we do”.

Current restrictions, which include an 8pm closing time for pubs and restaurants, as well as curbs on the number of people able to attend large events, are set to expire on 30 January.

It comes as the Government plans to update the Digital Covid Cert to reflect whether or not people have received a booster vaccine.

Updated certs are currently being issued and they will be required for travelling within the EU.