An expert in virology has said new waves of Covid-19 can be expected every few months and not just on a seasonal basis. Dr Gerald Barry, an assistant professor in virology at UCD, said "it's not going to be seasonal, at least it doesn't appear to be like flu, where it kind of disappears during the summer".
He said "it is likely that its ability to spread is reduced during the summer, so it is a little bit seasonal I suppose, but nothing to the extent that we see with things like the flu, or other traditional coronaviruses that tend to disappear during the summer and come back in winter." Speaking to RTÉ News, Dr Barry said that if the current pattern continues, new waves of the virus are likely "every three to four months".
His comments comes amid a further rise in the number of people with the virus in hospital. As of 8am, there were 826 patients with the virus, an increase of 30 on the same time yesterday.
It compares to 746 people last Sunday. The figure has also risen by 30% in two weeks and it has more than doubled from three weeks ago.