A consultant in Respiratory Medicine has said there are currently a large number of incidental Covid-19 cases in hospital, where patients are admitted to hospital for another issue, and are then found to be infected.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Professor Seamus Linnane, who is also head of the Beacon Hospital's Long Covid clinic and Deputy Director of the hospital, said the latest wave is due to variants being much more transmissible than before, but the illness is not as severe for most people.
As of yesterday morning, there were 776 people in hospital with the virus. Prof Linnane added: "There are increasing numbers of patients in hospital and there is a group of patients who are struggling with the infection and becoming quite sick with it".
He reiterated that while vaccination does reduce the severity of the virus, "it doesn't take it away entirely". "When we're meeting with patients in hospital who have Covid, there are a large number of incidental diagnoses.