The World Health Organisation has warned that Ireland may see another Covid surge in a matter of weeks, as Dr. David Nabarro says hospitals will face more pressure.
The WHO's special envoy on Covid-19 said hospitals will likely face “a lot of illness” as case numbers begin to increase again.
The number of people in hospitals receiving treatment for the most severe effects of the virus has dropped by around two-thirds since the beginning of the month, to 477.
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This is compared to nearly 1,500 in the first week of April, however, this new caution will come as unwelcome news to Ireland’s exhausted hospital staff.
According to the WHO's forecasts, the next wave could be experienced on the Emerald isle in as soon as four to six weeks’ time.
But that is not all their warning of in the latest update - they also believe there will be a surge every three months going forward.
“We’ve actually been going down in terms of numbers around the world for the last four to six weeks,” Dr. Nabarro said.
“I think it will pick up again in about another four to six weeks and there’ll be another surge.
“There will be a surge in Ireland as well as in the British isles, and that may lead to quite a lot of illness in hospitals again.”
The latest update from Irish health officials confirmed 2,837 new Covid-19 cases on Tuesday.
Of this number, 1,236 were confirmed by PCR test and 1,601 people confirmed their positive antigen test through the HSE’s online portal.
Ireland’s response to the pandemic in recent months has been widely criticised by the WHO which said the country went from “too much, to too few”.
It referenced how politicians didn't reinstate restrictions in response to the recent rapid spread of the virus and major pressure on hospitals nationwide - but instead, they simply recommended increased use of face masks.
At this point, there is no indication that there will be new restrictions coming as a result of any future surge in Ireland as vaccination rates are high and there is a new campaign focused on the next round of booster doses.
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