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HEALTH OFFICIALS HAVE reported an additional 5,767 positive PCR cases of Covid-19 in Ireland today.
There were also 5,916 positive antigen tests registered through the HSE website on Monday.
As of 8am this morning, 979 people were in hospital with the virus, 93 of whom were receiving treatment in intensive care.
Yesterday, there were 6,329 cases of Covid-19 reported by PCR, there were 4,810 cases by antigen, with 1,006 people in hospital and 97 in ICU.
Last Wednesday, the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) said that there had been 83 deaths notified in previous seven days, bringing Ireland’s total number of deaths to 6,035.
The latest figures come in the wake of warnings from NPHET that the PCR testing system has been overwhelmed by the volume of the disease in the country in recent weeks, and that the true volume of cases is much higher.
New guidance around close contacts came into effect on Friday, and a HSE system allowing people to register positive antigen tests with the service also went online. As a result, health authorities are now releasing two individual case numbers – laboratory-confirmed PCR results, and self-reported antigen results.
People who test positive via antigen are no longer required to seek a confirmatory PCR test, meaning there may be an artificial decline in these figures.
However, people who test positive via antigen are not entitled to receive a recovery certificate from the HSE. Therefore, some people may opt to get a PCR test after registering their positive antigen, resulting in them being reflected in both sets of figures.
It is also a possibility that some people who test positive via antigen may not register their results with the HSE.
Regardless of all the variables now in play, the new rule changes come at the same time as case numbers are expected to decline anyway as the peak of the Omicron wave passes.
In a statement this evening, Mercy University Hospital in Cork said it is experiencing high demand for its emergency department services due to an increase in attendance of acutely ill patients.
The hospital appealed to people requiring less urgent treatment to avail of other care services where possible.
People in these circumstances are advised to contact their GP or South Doc, or avail of services at the Mercy Local Injury Unit at St Mary’s Health Campus.
“Patient care is a priority at MUH and hospital management would like to stress that the
clinical needs of all patients in the Emergency Department are being cared for,” the hospital statement said.
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Are cases going down or have people stopped getting tested?
@⚡ Seánie ⚡: I’d say there’s more than a fair few not uploading their positive antigens, or, don’t know how to. The HSE website is a bit of a minefield to be honest.
@⚡ Seánie ⚡: positivity rate is coming down which I would take as a sign that cases are down in reality.
But as someone else mentioned, cases mean FA these days
@⚡ Seánie ⚡: cases are going down. The positive rate has dropped by 1.5% in the past week.
@⚡ Seánie ⚡: the latter
@Gerry McCaughey: closer to 10% Gerry. Not sure what your source for 1.5% is
@⚡ Seánie ⚡: The CDC have abolished the PCR test. It won’t be reported here..
@⚡ Seánie ⚡: bit of both actually. The lab reports are way down about 50% the last few days as we can see below (down from over 40,000 to around 20,000). But the positivity rate is also down. The lab test could could be down because younger people are not getting PCR tests but also because less people have symptoms and being sent for testing. https://www.geohive.ie/datasets/f6d6332820ca466999dbd852f6ad4d5a_0/explore?showTable=true about 4 in 10 were positive over the weekend latest show 6300 from about 20000 tests compared to 21000 from 43000 tests a week ago. So less are being tested and the percentage testing positive are all going down. Be nice to know the Antigen tests requested and negative as well as positive count. But I wonder if people test daily it is total or new positive.
@Michael Holland: as I understand it the CDC have replaced the covid PCR test for one that can detect and distinguish coronavirus and influenza virus in samples using molecular testing. This has been known since last July. The process has been refined and a different amplification method used. Not because there was anything wrong with PCR testing but the labs just use a different and more efficient (or standard) method for detecting all kinds of infections hence In Vetro testing replaces PCR testing… https://www.fda.gov/medical-devices/coronavirus-disease-2019-covid-19-emergency-use-authorizations-medical-devices/in-vitro-diagnostics-euas?
@Niall Ó Cofaigh: unfortunately Michael only listens to Q.
@Henri Poincaré: Gerry said dropped BY 1.5% not TO 1.5%…..
@Henri Poincaré: I got my numbers from the app. But its dodgy at times when it comes to updating so I’ll go with your stats.
@Paul Clancy: positivity rate was about 52% this time last week and 42% today
No point issuing PCR and antigen test numbers anymore, there is no integrity to the figures as a percentage of actual cases in the Community. The focus should be on hospitalisations and ICU and on their stability to allow for reopening closed and restricted businesses and keeping them open.
@Eoin Roche: broken record there san just like the goverment
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, open the pubs!!!!
@TheKloppKop: Go on, say it again !
@James Lough: open the pubs!!! Gimme dat midnight pint!!!!
@James Lough: go on go on ye will ye will
@Richarddoherty: Whist up
@TheKloppKop: Jesus. I find myself agreeing with a Liverpool fan…but yes. OPEN. THE. F’N. PUBS!!
Great news here. Clearly this wave is past its peak and we should carefully remove all restrictions. I think we are looking at the end of the pandemic assuming no new troublesome variants arise. The curve was flattened which gave time for creating vaccinations and a less dangerous variant. Time to think about normal life post Covid.
Hopefully we getting closer to the end!
You have to wonder how some of the people on social media will put thier days in if restrictions do go over the next few weeks and they have nothing to moan about.
@Brendan Luke Ferron: clearly the nation will go back to moaning about the weather! There was a fierce sharp frost this morning and the car was covered in ice. Not as exciting as Covid but it’ll be a hot topic (no pun intended) when the pandemic comes to an end!
@Brendan Luke Ferron: In fairness just look at who, and what, is “running” the country. I doubt very much there will ever be a shortage of things to complain or moan about.:)
Should be s-h-o-t with b-a-l-l-s of your own s-h-i-t if you register an antigen and then have a pcr. If you do you quite clearly just want to be a number.
@Ian O Hara: brilliant
@Ian O Hara: Wow! You’ve gone totally ballsistic with that comment…
@Ian O Hara: is that at all possible? I would have thought that the system would already show you as having a positive antigen test and therefore prevent you from booking or being booked for a PCR test?
@Ian O Hara: you need a PCR test for a certificate of recovery so that could be one good reason. I am not sure if a positive antigen test alone is accepted for sick leave or social welfare payments. However if the validation process works then one should not appear twice – so a positive antigen test reported should prevent a new PCR case also being reported. This is part of the validation process to ensure that only unique cases are reported and duplicates or retests are not counted.
Must hand it to Tony, never wanted Antigen Tests and now when suits his narrative he now loves them, nuts like a jockey
Dropping great news
See don’t do PCR tests and numbers will drop simple
@Willie Bill Bryan: but even the percentage of PCR tests returning positive is down considerably. So, regardless of the volume, this trend alone is good.
Flush the toilets
@Ed: yay, say it again
Winding down for the next pandemic they throw at us..
4th booster in Israel is not doing great… Prepare for 5 plus vaccinations a year…
Open the taps.
Do we add together PCR and antigen for numbers
@Lovett Jan: You could do that but it still wouldn’t be anything like the number.
@Lovett Jan: Tony be adding pregnancy tests if he could,anything to avoid making right decision
@Vonvonic: perhaps there is way more cases than reported, but that’s a good thing. If we assume there is 3 times as many cases as reported, but not 3 times as many Hospital/ICU cases as reported and there aren’t people secretly dying of it, it means the excess cases are so mild that people either couldn’t be arsed or don’t even know they might have it. Therefore the disease is 1/3 as dangerous as the numbers would suggest.
They’ve changed the narrative to suit themselves as PCR results where the barometer but now meaningless, antigen results now being included to worsen the story but numbers still meaningless true numbers are now ??? now to the majority have been desensitised, ICU doesn’t mean Covid put you there, what metric can be used that resonates with the public… vaxed & non-vaxed? If we published a 100k have a cold would anyone care? FYI vaxed & boosted to play my part for the greater good a public interest, its not about you it’s about them, closed family have had covid no I’ll effects, let’s cope on and open up the country once and for all no more restrictions 2 years lads we played our part nothing more we can do or endure…. please!
@David Gill: NPHET doing this from day 1,changing goal posts to ensure they always in the right
Why have those ICU cases dropped so severely since yesterday. I can’t imagine they have all been discharged?
@Suzanna Mcevoy: 4 admissions, 6 discharges in the last 24hrs
https://covid19ireland-geohive.hub.arcgis.com/pages/hospitals-icu–testing
@Suzanna Mcevoy: remember not one person in ICU is in there due to CV19, they just happened to have caught cv19
@Sean: more lies Sean. You keep telling them but not once have you backed them up.
@barry moore: from a consultant that is part of the team. Your welcome
@Sean: You think ICU would put people in there simply because they tested positive from a test, and would monitor them 24/7 if they weren’t seriously Ill. You’d know well you haven’t been near too many ICUs.
@Sean: another night same nonsense.
@Suzanna Mcevoy: yes they are, that goes back to the start, they should only report ICU numbers that CV19 was reason they in ICU and has made worst their sickness. Same goes with when they report 5k people died with CV19, the report should be and this is data from government state 1200 people have died due solely to contacting CV19, why report the other 3800 deaths that CV19 played no part in their death.
@Sean: consultants dont go mouthing off to people about patients individual diagnoses.
@Sean: if true, care to name them and the hospital they work for because I’m sure the media would love to break that story.
@Sean: just saying “from a consultant” isn’t backing up anything. Why aren’t they coming forward to newspapers if this is true. I know why because its a lie and you have told it so often you believe it yourself.
@Sean: Sean while one cannot discuss individual cases I know beyond any doubt that there are people in ICU being ventilated because of covid. The HSE report 17/01/2022 states thar 61 of the 97 covid positive patients in ICU are ventilated. Even you might be able to consider that some of the 61 patients infected by a respiratory virus and on assisted breathing might be there at least in part because the respiratory virus caused or contributed to breathing difficulties even if there are also underlying conditions, such as COPD or Cancer, prior to covid or hospital admission. Because there is no treatment for covid they can only be treated for the underlying condition.
Maybe your good doctor friend could explain or is he misleading you.
@Sean: “remember not one person is ICU is in there due to CV19″ may actually be technically true and it is more likely to be 61 or 91 in ICU due covid. I would respectfully suggest you check your sources and ask how they might know the reason every patient is in ICU in over 30 hospitals having covid patients. To compound the situation are you suggesting that your friend has enquired about patients not under their care and in a different hospital. Are you trying to get your friend struck off by accessing patient records to which they are not entitled to as they are not under their care or even in their hospital? Would providing you with ICU patient details for reproduction here be a breach of confidentiality? The story you repeat from time to time is so unbelievable that no one listens.
@Niall Ó Cofaigh: very good. Ted hastings-esque.
@Fred spins kdb: i always ask my daughter how things going in work, anything said is above board as is fact and no names of patients in conversation.
@barry moore: been on radio also ,can’t think of the expert from Maynooth college who was on TV3 night show. Check it out yourself.
@Niall Ó Cofaigh: there was but right now there is not a single person in ICU solely due to CV19. They were already in ICU then got cv19 due to poor hospital practices. You can’t argue with facts.
@Sean: how does she have access to information regarding every patient in every ICU in ireland? Is she receiving written consent from the patients/their next of kin for releasing their medical records? Because thats what she would have to do to be 100% sure of what you are saying, and it would’nt be permitted without a valid medical reason. Your story does not stand up to scrutiny.
I wouldn’t trust the Antigen tests the lidl ones have been recalled due to it being contaiminated
Is this good? Bad? I don’t even know anymore.
have your say