Concern about rise in household mixing after increase in number of close contacts per confirmed Covid case

There's concern about a rise in household mixing after an increase in the number of close contacts per confirmed Covid case.

It's risen to an average of 3.3 - but one person who tested positive last week had 38 close contacts.

The HSE says there's still a way to go before hospitals recover from the third wave.

Chief executive Paul Reid says people socialising more is a concern: "Increasingly, we're seeing people mix in between homes or in apartments and certainly in students settings we're seeing that increasingly again. So some students, sharing and moving between apartments and maybe going to watch a sports game, maybe going to watch a Premiership match or Super Bowl, or people mixing in between, and we can follow the transmission levels have between apartments and homes.