“Significant pressures” on healthcare services is expected in coming weeks amid an early start to the flu season, the Cabinet has been told.
Ministers were briefed that the influenza season is two to three weeks earlier than usual and HSE modelling projects that 700-1,500 hospital beds will be occupied each day by flu patients in coming weeks.
Almost 2,000 new influenza cases were reported in the week ending November 29th, double the previous week.
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The Cabinet memo on the epidemiological situation included information on respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and Covid-19 levels, as well as immunisation uptake rates and the HSE’s urgent and emergency care operational plan.
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RSV activity is said to be increasing but remains at low levels overall and at moderate levels among one to four-year-olds. Covid-19 activity is stable and at low levels.
However, with flu cases set to put a strain on healthcare services, Ministers were told that co-circulation of RSV and Covid-19 will compound pressures.
There were 1,977 cases of flu in the week ending November 29th, up from 906 the previous week. That is an increase of more than 118 per cent, according to data from the Health Protection Surveillance Centre.
The number of people admitted as inpatients in hospitals due to flu also doubled in a week, with 418 hospitalisations recorded during the last week of November, compared with 213 the previous week.
