Antigen tests identify bulk of new Covid cases as 9,070 logged

Antigen tests are identifying the majority of new Covid-19 cases in Ireland, with a total of 9,070 logged on Wednesday.

Just 1,715 of the positive cases were confirmed by PCR test, while 7,355 people registered a positive antigen test through the HSE portal.

As of this morning, there were 829 Covid-19 patients in hospital, with 51 in intensive care.

Hospitalisations associated with the disease have somewhere stabilised after increasing sharply over the weekend, rising from 670 on Friday to 808 by Monday.

The growing number of cases identified through antigen testing is not unexpected amid the scaling-back of the test and trace system.

The Department of Health has previously cautioned that self-registered antigen test results are not directly comparable with cases confirmed by PCR test.

Meanwhile, a further 2,683 cases of the virus were notified in the last 24-hour reporting period in Northern Ireland.

Four more people who had previously tested positive for Covid-19 have died in the region, where there are 481 Covid-19 patients in hospital, including two in intensive care.