If a person has symptoms that seem like Covid or have a positive antigen test, then there is every possibility that they do have Covid and should follow public health advice accordingly.
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The Department of Health has confirmed 20,554 new cases of Covid-19 her in the Irish Republic over the past 24 hours.
The number of people in the republic’s hospitals with coronavirus has increased to 619, latter figure an increase of 51 based on yesterday reported figures. Of these, 88 are in ICU, which is down five on yesterday’s reported figures.
Increased visitor restrictions and infection control measures have been put in place at University Maternity Hospital Limerick (UMHL), [latter the medical facility serving North Tipperary], following an outbreak of Covid-19 on its inpatient wards. Access to nominated support partners to the UMHL inpatient wards is now strictly limited to a 1 x two-hour slot per day, between the hours of 2:00pm and 8:00pm, according to a statement released by hospital management this morning.
Pharmacies have noted a massive surge in demand for antigen testing, as the HSE’s PCR testing system comes under increasing strain, as it tests between 30,000 to 40,000 people each day. Yesterday, there were no appointments available in any county across the Irish Republic and today no appointments at lunchtime.
The Government’s position on schools reopening remains to date unchanged and same are set to reopen after the Christmas holidays as previously agreed. However the Cabinet are expected to meet on Wednesday and Thursday next; with NPHET holding an emergency meeting before next Thursday; thus their strategy could change.
The Department of Public Health here in our Mid-West region is advising people in North Tipperary, Limerick and Clare to limit social contacts during New Year’s Eve celebrations. Indications are that the number of daily Covid-19 cases have more than doubled on what was confirmed before Christmas.
According to the public press, Mr David Cullinane, (Him of ‘Up the Ra’ fame and less well known as Sinn Féin’s so called party health spokesperson), is still having difficulty with understanding the present governments coronavirus instructions. One wonders what portion of the statement “isolate, observe adherence to social distancing, use face covering, avoid hand shaking”, does he not fully understand.
Meanwhile, residents of the locked-down Chinese city of Xi’an, capital of Shaanxi Province in central China, are claiming that they are struggling to find sufficient food, despite Beijing insisting today that there were now adequate supplies available to all.
A further 4,701 new cases of coronavirus were also reported in Northern Ireland today; bringing, (including today), the number of positive cases confirmed in the past seven days to a colossal 31,643.
Today, there are 303 patients with Covid-19 in northern hospitals, up from 277 reported on Wednesday. There remain 32 patients with Covid-19 also in northern hospital intensive care units, down 3 compared to yesterday.
Sadly, 3 more Covid-19-related deaths have been reported in Northern Ireland today; bringing their total number of deaths, linked to Covid-19, since the start of the pandemic, to 2,979.
In England, with daily cases having increased to more than 183,000 just today; plans are being prepared to erect Temporary hospitals to deal with a potential overspill of in-patients, as surging Covid-19 cases put the country’s health service on what officials described as a “war footing”.
Time to cancel all plans and celebrate later, rather than celebrate now and grieve later.
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