More than half the patients in critical care in Ireland with Covid are now aged under 60 years.
It comes as doctors issue a warning that Covid numbers are coming down but not fast enough.
Younger people are becoming very sick with Covid-19.
The latest figures from the Government’s Covid-19 data hub show that as of 8am yesterday (Sat) there were 242 people with the virus in hospital.
There were 65 people in intensive care with Covid-19 as of 7.30pm yesterday.
Dr Catherine Motherway, an intensive care consultant at University Hospital Limerick, told Newtalk that hospital numbers are coming down but not fast enough.
“We still have a significant burden of disease in the ICUs and with case numbers at 500 every day, unfortunately, some of those people will get sick and require our services,” Dr Motherway said.
She added that the vaccination programme will ultimately make a difference to our numbers.
“The best way to bring out numbers down is to bring the transmission of the disease down, but also the vaccination programme will ultimately make a difference to our numbers too,” she added.
Public health experts are asking people to keep their contacts low over the bank holiday weekend, urging adherence to Level 5 restrictions to avoid a surge in case numbers as was noted after Christmas.
