Two Irish hospitals have had bring a halt to visitors as the number of Covid cases soars.
Cork's Mercy Hospital and Cork University Hospital reintroduced restrictions in line with the latest increase in the number of patients with Covid-19.
Mercy is operating as normal, however, hospital bosses opted to suspend general visitation rules on Monday until further notice.
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Despite the new rules, visitors looking to enter the hospital on compassionate grounds will be able to do so once it is approved by the ward manager.
Meanwhile, Cork University Hospital is monitoring the current Covid situation there, with routine visitations banned for now.
Announced the update this month, the hospital said: "In light of the increased incidence of Covid-19 infection both in the hospital and in the community, CUH has now revised its visiting arrangements."
It also said that it is likely they will stop visits completely "in the event of an infection outbreak,” and said that in this case the rules would be ‘reviewed.’
Visitation is only being permitted for CUH patients that are high dependency, have a prolonged length of stay, on compassionate grounds, or in end-of-life circumstances, at the moment.
CUH patients are also only allowed one visitor in order to best contain the current outbreak of the virus.
These two hospitals in Co Cork are not the only ones experiencing an increase in Covid cases. There has been a jump in healthcare settings nationwide, with the number of patients presenting with Covid "edging up" in recent weeks, according to the HSE's Chief Clinical Officer Dr. Colm Henry.
Meanwhile, the Government hasn't ruled out reintroducing Covid restrictions if cases were to surge this winter.
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