Irish Hospitals May Not Be Able To Keep Routine Work Going In Weeks Ahead If Outbreak Keeps Growing

That's the warning from Health Minister Stephen Donnelly, who's meeting with other ministers to discuss further public health controls. 

An announcement on fresh restrictions is expected in the next hour or so. 

Minister Donnelly says the goal now has to be to drive down infections until the vaccine drive is more developed. 

"We need to keep people safe. We need to keep people alive. And we need to keep our hospital system and our health care system open so obviously there'll be very serious decisions have to be looked at today. The good news, however, is we have the vaccine. There are more vaccines coming, the strategy is suppressed the virus to give time to vaccinate frontline workers, and those who are most vulnerable."

Meanwhile the HSE is warning of 'worrying' trends of COVID-19 transmission in the community, with positivity rates approaching 20% on some days.

It also found that 100 positive cases had between 20 to 30 close contacts on one day.

Chief Clinical Officer Colm Henry says the disease is transmitting at alarming rates:

"So the growth rate at the moment is approaching 10% that R value that you're also familiar with is 1.8. Even to stay as we are, to get a bit lower to an R value of 1.4, it would translate into 2,000 cases per day in mid-January and perhaps 3,000 by the end of January. Hospitalisations translate into 800 in mid-January to 1,200 at the end of January."