Over 23,000 Covid-19 cases confirmed in Ireland last week

DUBLIN: More than 23,000 people are known to have been infected with Covid-19 in Ireland last week. A total of 10,435 people had a positive PCR test and 13,059 registered as positive with the HSE after a home antigen test.

Scientists believe the Covid variants BA.4 and BA.5 have a growth advantage of around 35% higher than previous forms of Omicron, making it much more infectious.

West Kerry, Newport in Tipperary and Cappaghmore in Limerick had the highest incidence of Covid-19 over 14 days, according to the report. In West Kerry, there were 345.5 cases per 100,000 in 14 days. This was followed by Newport in Tipperary, Limerick city, Tralee, Waterford city, Tullamore and Listowel in Kerry.

The number of Covid-19 patients at the hospital rose to 697, with 21 of those being in the intensive care unit.