Public health officials in the midwest are urging people to limit social activity, after noting a doubling of infection rates in the last four to five weeks.
Public Health Mid-West, which oversees North Tipp, Limerick and Clare, says there have been 3,374 cases in the region in the last fortnight alone.
They’re managing outbreaks in a variety of settings including nursing homes and long-term residential care facilities.
The organisation is encouraging people to get fully vaccinated and make small changes to daily activity by limiting social contacts and wearing face masks.
HSE Chief Clinical Officer Dr Colm Henry says the booster vaccines are starting to have an impact.
“We’re seeing fall off in cases in older people certainly and this may well be due to this booster vaccination programme. Particularly in those over 85s, over 65s we’re seeing a fall off in the number of cases – bucking the trend we’re seeing in younger age groups.
“It’s a more complex story than just the cases going up alone – the harm associated with those cases is certainly not as much as it was in January when we didn’t have a vaccination programme.”
