Tens of thousands of infections with the Covid-19 Omicron variant have not been captured in official figures since the start of December, senior officials have been told.

A meeting of civil servants, political aides and public-health officials yesterday heard there had likely been at least 380,000 cases of the highly-transmissible strain since early last month, and perhaps as many as 500,000.

This was significantly lower than the estimated 220,000 cases of the variant confirmed through the State’s PCR testing system in the same period, the Covid-19 Oversight Group was told.

Hospital Report

The testing system has come under major pressure since before Christmas with many people with Covid-19 symptoms or positive antigen tests struggling to secure appointments.

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High rates of test positivity, which have been running at about 50 per cent recently, are seen as a key indicator that many cases are going undetected and that the level of infection is far beyond what the testing system can cater for. A further 17,656 cases were reported yesterday.

ICU admissions

Despite the ongoing surge in infections, sources expressed tentative hope that record case numbers and the rising numbers needing Covid-19 treatment in hospital were not translating to intensive care (ICU) admissions at the same rate as during last January’s peak.

Dr Michael Power, a consultant at Beaumont Hospital and the Health Service Executive’s clinical lead for critical care, said the ICU situation, with 94 Covid-19 patients nationally, was stable. “If we look back at this time last year we recall that the figures were going up at an increase of net 20 per day.”

However, he added that was “too early to say” what the impact of Omicron would ultimately be.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin yesterday said the “bulk” of ICU cases had been infected with the previously dominant Delta variant.

The National Public Health Emergency Team will meet today to consider the impact of the latest wave, and whether changes are needed to close contact isolation requirements.

Currently people are asked to remain at home for five to 10 days following exposure to a confirmed case, which employers have said is causing trouble in staffing their businesses. Officials will consider the matter at the Government’s request but no policy changes are expected this week.

Schools

With schools returning from the Christmas break today, principals have warned that many classes may need to stay at home due to the volume of teachers unavailable for Covid-19 reasons.

An Irish Primary Principals’ Network (IPPN) survey of 1,500 schools found about 40 per cent were worried that they did not have enough staff available to cover absences.

“It’s going to be very challenging,” said IPPN chief executive Pairic Clerkin. “We expect most schools will open but may have to rely on special-education teachers or students to stay open.”

Under new guidance issued by the Department of Education, schools are advised to prioritise in-person teaching for Junior and Leaving Cert students and pupils with special needs in the event of teaching staff being unavailable.

A number of schools informed parents last evening that classes would not reopen until next week, or will operate on alternate days for the time being.

Minister for Education Norma Foley acknowledged that the coming days and weeks “will not be without their challenges”, but the pandemic had shown that children were best served by in-person learning.

She said risk mitigation measures in schools – such as the use of medical-grade masks – remained under review.