HEALTH officials have urged Limerick people to work from home as local cases of COVID-19 surged to nearly 260 in the past week, according to latest figures released by the Department of Public Health Mid West.
There were 122 cases of the virus in Limerick over the weekend, in addition to 137 cases recorded between last Sunday week and last Thursday, a spokesman said.
A spokesman for Public Health mid West confirmed there were 51 cases on Friday, 31 cases Saturday as well as 40 cases Sunday.
A free pop-up testing centre is to be provided without the need for an appointment, from 12pm-7pm, on the grounds of St Joseph’s Hospital, Mulgrave Street for five days initially from this Wednesday.
Meanwhile, a spokesman for University Hospital Limerick (UHL) said the amount of inpatient Covid-19 cases has increased from two to twelve in the past week.
Speaking on RTE Radio One’s Morning Ireland radio programme this morning, the Director of Public Health Mid West, Dr Mai Mannix, said she has asked that all recent cases in Limerick be tested for all variants, including the so-called Indian, Brazilian, and South African variants.
Dr Mannix said her contact tracing team in Limerick has seen a growing cases emerging from a rise in large indoor social gatherings including house parties, birthday parties, end of year academic celebrations, as well as the recent Eid festivities.
Dr Mannix described large indoor gatherings as being a “very high risk” activity and that such behaviour went against current public health advice.
“We are seeing young adults, people in their 30s and 40s who are parents of young children, being hospitalised. Luckily, obviously our older age group is now immunised, so we are not seeing that group being hospitalised or infected to any large extent,” Dr Mannix added.
A source at UHL said a number of patients at the hospital being treated at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) were in the younger adult age bracket, which was concerning.
Dr Mannix urged people “not to go into work if they have symptoms and please to wear a mask at work even if social distancing is occurring” following “a significant onward transmission from social events into workplaces” in the mid west region.
“We have not seen this level of infection in the community since early March, which is a very worrying trend, and if daily cases continue at this rate, coupled with the health service’s coping with the sinister cyber attack, we will find ourselves in a very troubling position.”
Anyone displaying symptoms or who may be concerned they have been exposed to possible infection, are urged to arrange a PCR test at the HSE Limerick Covid Test Centre, located at Unit 6D Eastpoint Business Park, Ballysimon Road, V94 KN73, and which is open from 8.15am-6.30pm Saturday, Sunday and Monday.
