Increased incidence of new variants here

The incidence of more infectious variants of the first coronavirus detected in the UK is even higher in Ireland, accounting for almost half of the latest samples of positive tests, the Irish Prime Minister said. ..

Micheál Martin is the latest from Chief Medical Officer Dr. Tony Holohan, with new variants undergoing additional testing compared to 25% of the samples tested in the week leading up to January 3 and 9% in the two weeks. He said he was said to account for 45% of the 92 samples. Just a while ago.

Notified by the Ministry of Health Eight more coronavirus-related deaths and 6,888 new cases yesterday.

According to the latest Health Service Executive figures, the number of cases of Covid-19 confirmed in the hospital is 1,575.

The number of ICU patients has increased to 146.

The prime minister also said he believed that people should wear face covers when they were “on the go.”

He said that some popular areas where people go to exercise are quite crowded and he believes people should wear masks in those settings.

Martin told NewsTalk Radio that he did not accept the government sending mixed messages by Christmas and believed that he always acted responsibly to address the challenges posed by the virus.

The story of the latest coronavirus

He said he believed that increased socialization, new varieties and seasonality all contributed to the current situation.

“Most people are at home,” Martin said, with evidence that some people did not adhere to the guidelines, but most people are complying with the new restrictions.

He said positive rates declined, GP referral rates declined, the 5-day moving average leveled off, and close contact also declined.

The figure shows that Cork University Hospital has the highest number of Covid-19 patients, 135.

This is followed by University Hospital Limerick, which has 122 patients, and Beaumont Hospital, which has 104 patients.

Varadkar says hospital conditions can get worse

Tánaiste Leo Varadkar warns that while hospital conditions can worsen and there are signs of hope that the number of Covid-19-positive cases will decline in the coming days, it will take some time before this appears in the hospital. Did.

Regarding today’s RTÉ with Claire Byrne, he said the current focus must be on reducing community infections and accelerating vaccine programs.

He said the government would consider current Level-5 restrictions at the end of the month, but some companies may not be able to resume until the end of March.

Varadkar said reopening schools as planned is a government plan and will work with management and unions to convince them that reopening schools is a good idea. ..

He also said that efforts would be made to open a special education school as soon as possible.

The· The number of hospitalized coronavirus patients has more than quadrupled in the last two weeks. Health Service Executive Paul Reed said yesterday.

He said private hospitals have already begun to accept some emergency non-Covid patients.

One-fifth (21%) of Covid-19 swabs have tested 180,897 times in the last 7 days and returned positive results.

Driver’s license exemption for people over 70

Hildegard Norton, Minister of Transport, has announced an extension of the exemption that will allow people over the age of 70 to apply for a driver’s license without having to submit a medical report.

This is done to ease the burden of medical services following the surge in Covid-19 cases.

We have extended the exemption so that people in their 70s and above can renew their driver’s license without submitting a medical report. You don’t have to do anything. If you are over 70 and need to renew, NDLS will send you a pack and you can apply by mail or online. https://t.co/iiBmUvtNmt @RSAIreland pic.twitter.com/0AtndDqi7R

— Hildegard Norton (@ 1 Hildegard) January 11, 2021

Norton said: “This means that people over the age of 70 can apply for and renew their driver’s license without having to submit a medical report, provided they have no specific or specific illness and are ill. I will not apply for the bus category.

“This extension eliminates the need for drivers over the age of 70 to move unnecessarily to the GP or National Driver License Service Center.”

Additional reports Fergal Bowers, Sinead Hussey, Cathy Halloran