Ireland is thought to have hit the peak of the Omicron wave, according to health chiefs, as cases and hospitalistions begin a downward trend.
An Nphet meeting scheduled for this week is expected to discuss the possible relaxing of some restrictions.
HSE CEO Paul Reid has said the consistent trends “give great hope”, with hospital cases down and fewer patients on oxygen support over the weekend. Mr Reid said GP referrals and overall cases down are also down. “Booster vaccines and the public’s response have so far eased the worst impacts. Please get your booster asap,” he tweeted.
Yesterday, NPHET reported 14,555 PCR confirmed cases of Covid-19 and 5,406 positive anitgen tests registered with the HSE.
Deputy Chief Medical Officer Ronan Glynn said more data will be needed to determine the next course of action. He said Ireland was coming close to reaching the peak of the wave last week “if it has not yet passed”.
He added: “There are certainly reasons for optimism and hope and we see across Europe that a number of countries have experienced a similar picture to ourselves in that the numbers in ICU have remained stable.
“But I think it is a little too early for us to conclude on that at this point. We all want that to be true and we all want to move on from this but from our perspective we need another week’s worth of data.”
