Hospitals face 'national emergency' amid third wave
Updated / Monday, 11 Jan 2021
17:05
Hospitals across the country are facing a surge of Covid-19 patients
The President of the Irish Hospital Consultants' Association has said the current situation in Ireland's acute hospitals "is truly a national emergency".
Speaking on RTÉ's News at One, Professor Alan Irvine said that "the acute hospital system is under the greatest pressure that it's ever been in living memory".
He said 1,000 people have been admitted with Covid-related illnesses to acute hospitals since 2 January and these admissions are doubling, in both intensive care and general acute beds, every week.