The level of Covid-19 infections in Irish hospitals is "out of control", the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation has said.
The union is calling for upgraded safety standards "immediately" to bring the situation under control. In a statement, the INMO said that nearly 2,000 healthcare workers have caught Covid-19 over two weeks in outbreaks directly traced to their workplaces.
They said that between 6 and 19 January there have been 5,403 reported healthcare workers infected with the virus, with 1,957 confirmed as having been infected in a healthcare setting.
The union has called for a number of measures, including a national requirement that high-standard FFP2 masks be used in all healthcare settings instead of basic surgical masks.