37 patients with Covid across Cork hospitals as CMO warns people to be vigilant over Christmas

There are 37 patients with Covid-19 currently in hospitals in Cork, according to the latest HSE Covid-19 Daily Operations Update publication.

As of 8pm on Tuesday, December 21, there are 25 Covid positive patients in Cork University Hospital (CUH) and a further 12 Covid positive patients in the Mercy University Hospital (MUH).

Neither hospital has any suspected cases of Covid-19.

There are six Covid-19 positive patients in ICU at CUH and no Covid positive patients are currently in ICU at MUH.

Nationally, there are 429 Covid-19 patients hospitalised, of which 100 are in ICU.

It comes as public health officials confirmed a further 6,307 cases of Covid-19 in Ireland.

There has been a total of 5,890 deaths related to Covid-19 notified in Ireland. This includes 55 deaths newly notified in the past seven days.

Chief Medical Officer, Dr Tony Holohan, said: “Our recent research has shown that many people have reviewed their plans for Christmas, reduced their social contacts and changed or postponed plans in order to protect themselves and their loved ones. 

This is a big sacrifice that many have made and will do much to protect all of us over the festive period.

“It is important that we remember that Covid-19 will still be circulating at a high level after Christmas and into the New Year, and even though it is a difficult message to hear, we must all continue to keep our social contacts low and do all we can to continue to adhere to the public health advice.

“We know that our young people are making a really big effort to act responsibly and to follow the public health advice and I would like to thank them for their significant efforts.

It is really important that we all remember that there is no one person or group or thing to blame in the situation we find ourselves in other, than the Covid-19 virus.

He said that booster vaccination is accelerating across the country and the images of people queuing for their vaccine and prioritising that appointment before Christmas are “heartening”.

“Please stick with all of the measures that we know work as we move through the next few difficult weeks, including attending for vaccination.

“If you display any symptoms of Covid-19, however mild, then self-isolate and arrange a PCR test as soon as you can. This is the single most important piece of basic public health advice. Do not meet up with others and put them at risk of Covid-19 or another respiratory infection. Do not rely on a negative antigen test as a basis for not isolating,” he said.