Ireland has recorded the highest rate of Covid-19 infection in the world in the past seven days, according to data released by Bloomberg and the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Ireland lies on top of the table with 10,100 cases of Covid-19 per million people, followed by Czech Republic on 8,900 and Slovenia on 7,200. The data provides stark reading as Ireland struggles to deal with the current wave of coronavirus.
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It has been confirmed today at 1,582 people are currently being treated for Covid-19 in hospitals here, with 146 of those ICU. This afternoon, Paul Reid of the HSE tweeted to say that the situation in hospitals is 'now beyond strain.' He told the public that 'to avoid getting sick, protect your family & healthcare workers please, please stay at home.'
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Earlier, An Taoiseach Mícheál Martin defended the Government's decision to open up the hospitality trade in the weeks before Christmas, telling
Newstalk that "Ireland has been in a fairly prolonged period of restrictions of one kind or another. Coming into the December period we had a six-week period of level five lockdown before that we had level three."
He added that "various sectors and people did want relief from that lockdown. All parties welcomed the decision at the end of December. I think the levels came way down as a result of the level five lockdown. The measures worked."
On Sunday evening, 6,888 new cases of Covid-19 were reported, along with eight deaths.
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