The number of Covid patients at Letterkenny Unversity Hospital has increased further over the weekend.
As of Saturday night, there were 72 patients with the virus being treated at the hospital. This is a 50% increase compared to the weekend before, when there were 48 patients affected by Covid.
The hospital is currently treating Ireland’s highest number of Covid patients across all acute hospitals.
One patient with Covid-19 was recorded as critical as of Saturday night.
LUH is currently dealing with an outbreak of the virus onsite, with visiting restrictions in place across the building, and a visiting ban in operation in Covid-affected areas.
Nationally, an estimated 15% of healthcare staff are off due to Covid-19. HSE chief executive Paul Reid has said the health service is “under stress” during the Omicron wave.
Stranorlar Dr Denis McCauley, Chair of the GP subcommittee of the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO), said most of those becoming seriously ill with the virus have not been vaccinated.
Dr McCauley told Newstalk FM: “The vaccine campaign has got us where we are now, in that I think it is ameliorating the amount of disease we are seeing. That unfortunately is so starkly shown in that quite a lot of people who are dying with Omicron are sadly not vaccinated.”
