Thurles Information

Since Tuesday last, October 5th, 2021, there have been an escalation of visiting restrictions at University Hospital Limerick (U.H.L.), latter the medical facility serving North Tipperary; as the facility continues to manage an outbreak of Covid-19, same currently affecting 4 of their inpatient wards.

As a necessary precautionary measure; following a meeting of the Hospital Crisis Management Team last Tuesday, visiting restrictions have now been extended to all inpatient wards.

Restrictions on visits to the Emergency Department, Acute Surgical Assessment Unit, and Acute Medical Assessment Unit at UHL also remain strictly in force.

Hospital management sincerely regret any inconvenience this current ban on routine visiting causes for patients. Their outbreak control team continues to review the situation on a daily basis and hospital management has decided it is now necessary to impose these measures, in the interests of patient safety and keeping essential services open for all patients.

However, there are some exceptions to this visiting ban and same are published here as follows: –

• Parents visiting children in hospital.
• People assisting confused patients (e.g. dementia based on a case-by-case basis)
• Compassionate grounds (e.g. for patients who are critically unwell or at end of life, again on a case-by-case basis).

All these exemptions are limited strictly to one person per patient only.
In cases where these exemptions apply, the facility strongly recommends that members of the public are fully vaccinated against Covid-19, before visiting U.H.L. to minimise any risks to patients and to other visitors themselves.

U.H.L. are also appealing to members of the public not to visit patients outdoors on the grounds of the facility, as such interaction can also present a Covid-19 transmission risk.

The Department of Health has confirmed 984 new cases of Covid-19, in the Republic of Ireland within the past 24 hours.

There are 343 people in hospital with the disease, down six on yesterday’s numbers, with 70 of these being treated in intensive care units, up five from yesterday.

Prof Philip Nolan (NPHET) has stated that the population seems to have come close to suppressing Covid-19 and we are in a good place in relation to lifting the remaining restrictions currently in place by October 22th next.

In Northern Ireland, a further 1,339 cases of the virus were confirmed by their Department of Health, in the last 24 hours; up from 1,209 cases on yesterday’s reported figures.

The latest hospital figures show there were 362 patients with Covid-19 in hospitals in Northern Ireland today, up from 346 reported yesterday, with 31 of these in intensive care.

Meanwhile, in Russia, sadly more than 900 daily coronavirus deaths have been reported for the first time, as the country struggles with stubbornly high infection rates, driven by the Delta variant and low vaccination take-up.

Please Remember:
Vaccination continues to offer the best protection against the most severe effects of COVID-19, including hospitalisation and death.

The Department of Health have confirmed 892 new cases of Covid-19 here in the Republic of Ireland, over the past 24 hours.

There are 333 people in our hospitals with the virus, up 14 on yesterdays reported figures and of these 64 are in our intensive care units.

Today is the first day that the updated daily Covid case figure within the Republic of Ireland have dropped below 1,000, since July 15th last.

In Northern Ireland, a further 1,080 cases of coronavirus were reported today, up from 892 reported just yesterday.

There were 338 patients with the virus in northern hospitals today, down from 342 reported on Friday.
Some 37 people were being treated in northern hospital intensive care units, up from 33 reported on Friday last.
Sadly also, 3 more coronavirus-related deaths have also been reported today.

Please Remember: Vaccination continues to offer the best protection against the most severe effects of COVID-19, including hospitalisation and death.