The number of Covid-19 cases notified the State has risen by more than three-fifths over the last two weeks, the infectious diseases watchdog has said.
Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) data shows there were 353 cases of the virus reported in the week ending June 21st, compared to 332 the previous week and 216 during the week before.
Those aged 65 or older represented the largest proportion of cases last week, though the number of cases in this cohort fell slightly when compared to the week before.
During the past week 120 people were admitted to hospital with Covid, down on the 122 cases in hospital in the week before.
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One patient with the virus was admitted to intensive care. There were no Covid-related deaths last week. In the previous week, there were two deaths.
There were 28 outbreaks of Covid-19 last week, all of which were in healthcare and residential institutions.
Of the outbreaks in healthcare settings, 13 were in nursing homes, 10 were in hospitals and four were in residential homes. There was one outbreak in a community hospital/long-stay unit.
Official Covid-19 figures are acknowledged to underreport the true prevalence of the virus, due to a reduction in testing since the pandemic.
The increase in cases is expected, as the virus tends to have two peaks: one during winter and another in summer.
The summer peak tends to be connected to waning immunity, more transmissible variants and human behaviour such as increased travel and spending more time in air-conditioned indoor spaces.
Covid variant LP8.1 represented 38 per cent of cases notified over the past five weeks.
This variant began to increase in prevalence earlier this year, however the HSE said “there is no evidence to date of an increase in clinical severity or reduction in vaccine effectiveness against severe disease among currently circulating variants”.
There is also a new variant called NB.1.8.1, which was detected last January. The HPSC said NB.1.8.1 accounted for 15 per cent of cases over the past five weeks. However, its prevalence declined slightly over the past three weeks.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) in May designated this strain of Covid as a “variant under monitoring”, and the public health risk posed by it was “evaluated as low at the global level”.
Earlier this month, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control said NB.1.8.1 was circulating at low proportions in Europe, but was “expected to rise in the coming weeks”.
The centre said population immunity has “most likely fallen” due to low circulation of the virus last winter, which may lead to increase in infections, “but also of hospitalisations in the coming weeks, particularly among groups at risk of severe disease, such as older adults”.
