Covid-19: 8,248 more cases and 20 further deaths; 109 Covid-19 patients are in ICU

The Department of Health has confirmed 8,248 new cases of Covid-19 and 20 further deaths.

There have now been a total of 135,884 confirmed cases of Covid-19 and 2,237 deaths related to the virus in Ireland.

According to rte

Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan said: “Three cases of a new variant of Covid-19 recently identified in South Africa have been confirmed in Ireland today by whole genome sequencing. All of the cases identified are directly associated with recent travel from South Africa.

Also today, the Chief Operating Officer of the Health Service Executive revealed there are 2,700 HSE staff unavailable for work, due to being Covid positive, or being a close contact of a positive case.

This is a “significant concern” for the healthcare service, said Anne O’Connor.

Photo by engin akyurt on Unsplash