The Acting Chief Medical Officer has said Ireland is currently experiencing a surge in Covid cases and the latest sub variant is even more transmissible than previous variants.
Professor Breda Smyth said there are 849 cases in hospitals across the country, including 137 admissions overnight. "It's around 125 admissions a day," she said.
Prof Smyth said the majority of cases are in the older population. She urged them to take up the option of a second booster as she said that half the eligible population still needed to avail of this. "We have seen a positive response to this - uptake is up by 10%," she said.
Prof Smyth said she wanted to address the concept of waning immunity. She said people who had the infection earlier this year could be reinfected but vaccination did still protect people from severe illness.