Covid-19: Record 20,554 cases as isolation reduced to seven days for those with booster

A new daily record of 20,554 confirmed cases of Covid-19 have been reported, the highest daily figure since the start of the pandemic.

There was also a sharp increase in hospitalisations with 619 confirmed cases in hospital on Thursday morning, an increase of 80 on the previous day. There were 148 admissions and 68 discharges in the last 24 hours.

The numbers in intensive care units remain steady at 88, one down on the previous day with eight admissions and nine discharges.

The record case numbers come as the Department of Health announced changes to the isolation period for people with Covid-19.

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From January 3rd, people who are at least seven days post booster vaccination or those who have completed their primary vaccination course and have had Covid-19 within the previous three months should now self-isolate for a minimum of seven days from the start of symptoms (or the date of first positive test if asymptomatic), rather than 10 days.

Also, people aged four to 39 who have Covid-19 symptoms will be required to have a positive antigen test before seeking a PCR test from next week, in a bid to ease pressure on the testing system.

Anyone with a positive antigen test should seek a confirmatory PCR test but those who receive a negative antigen test should continue to self-isolate until they are symptom-free for 48 hours.

New Year’s Eve

Speaking ahead of New Year’s Eve Chief Medical Officer, Dr Tony Holohan said the level of hospitalisations are “not sustainable” and he reiterated his call for people to avoid mixing indoors with those from other households to minimise the risk of transmitting the virus.

Dr Holohan, said: “For the fourth time this week, we are reporting Ireland’s highest ever number of confirmed cases of Covid-19”.

He reiterated his call for people to avoid mixing indoors with people from other households to minimise the risk of transmitting the virus.

Dr Holohan said: “I know this is not the advice any one of us wants to hear, particularly in advance of New Year celebrations.

“However, given the current profile of the disease, it is essential that all of us continue to keep our social contacts as low as possible in the days ahead.”

He said that in the last 24 hours, 148 people with Covid-19 were either admitted to hospital or received a “detected” test result while in hospital.

“Hospitalisations at this level are not sustainable and are having a significant impact on our health service.”

Dr Holohan said the admission figures are "increasingly likely to be driven by the surge in Omicron infection which now accounts for over 90 per cent of PCR confirmed cases in Ireland. "

He added: “Over 90 per cent of people in hospital and intensive care with Covid-19 are there for the management of Covid-19” and “less than 5 per cent of those in hospital or intensive care have ‘incidental’ (asymptomatic, non-infectious) disease.”

Deputy chief medical officer Dr Ronan Glynn said Omicron is far more contagious than previous variants and incidence across the country is now much higher than at any point in the pandemic.

“Because of this, many people, despite being boosted and having taken other measures to protect themselves will be infected with SARS-CoV-2.

“However, their booster will protect the vast majority from serious illness or hospitalisation, and it will help to protect our health service and critical care capacity.”

More than two million people have had booster jabs and Dr Glynn said that “without this very significant uptake, the current impact on hospitalisation would be considerably worse.”

He urged people to get booster vaccines as soon as it is available to them and to those who have had no Covid-19 vaccine at all he said: “it is never too late, please come forward and avail of it as, without it, you are at risk of very significant illness if you are exposed to the virus.”

It is a year to the day since the first Covid-19 vaccines were administered in the Republic at St James’s Hospital in Dublin. Since then, 9.5 million such doses have been administered and 94.2 per cent of the adult population are fully vaccinated.

In a tweet on Thursday, Taoiseach Micheal Martin said that Omicron remains a “serious threat” and he urged the public to get Covid-19 vaccines as soon as possible.

He also said that 2.08 million booster doses have been given out so far, 417,000 in the last week.

Antigen testing

Earlier on Thursday medical experts called on the Government to make immediate decisions on using antigen tests as a means of identifying Covid cases as PCR testing capacity had been overwhelmed.

Infectious diseases expert Dr Eoghan de Barra called on the Government to make a decision in relation to the use of antigen tests to confirm positive cases, as his colleague Dr Clíona Ní Cheallaigh said “the true number of cases” may actually be “much higher” than HSE figures.

Dr Ní Cheallaigh, a consultant in infectious diseases at the Mater hospital, said that because virus levels were so high in the community people with symptoms, and especially those who have a positive rapid antigen test, should “definitely” assume they have Covid “and act as if you do”.

Dr Ní Cheallaigh also told RTÉ Radio 1's Morning Ireland programme on Thursday that it was probably sensible to move the isolation period to seven days "because we need to keep our health services staffed and all our other essential services staffed".

Retail Excellence Ireland’s Jean McCabe also warned the isolation guidelines needed to be amended “immediately” if the economy was to avoid “coming to a halt”.