Digital Desk Staff
The Department of Health has confirmed a further 10,753 new cases of Covid 19 with PCR tests - and 4,209 positive antigen tests logged online.
The total figure of almost 15,000 is significantly down from the peak figure of over 26,000 cases on January 8th.
Meanwhile, 965 Covid positive patients are being treated in hospitals - a slight increase on yesterday, with 88 confirmed cases in ICU.
As of 8 o'clock last night there were 36 people with the virus being treated at University Hospital Waterford and two patients in ICU.
It comes as WHO special envoy David Nabarro has said the spread of Omicron variant could signal the first phase of Covid-19 becoming like a common cold, and that a more lethal strain is unlikely to be dominant in the future.
Mr Nabarro told the Business Post that was he was far more positive about the future course of the pandemic than he had been when the Omicron variant first arrived.
He said, however, that the process between a “nasty pandemic” and a much milder “endemic” would not be smooth, and that it would lead to a “bumpy next few months”.
