Irish intensive care units nearing capacity, PM says

FAN Editor
FILE PHOTO: News conference on the ongoing situation with the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Dublin
FILE PHOTO: Ireland’s Prime Minister Taoiseach Leo Varadkar speaks during a news conference on the ongoing situation with the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at Government Buildings in Dublin, Ireland March 24, 2020. Steve Humphreys/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo

March 27, 2020

By Padraic Halpin

DUBLIN (Reuters) – Ireland’s intensive care units (ICU) will be at capacity within a few days given the rate of spread of coronavirus and the health service has plans in place to deal with the extra demand, Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said on Friday.

Ireland reported 10 deaths from the virus on Thursday, more than doubling the total number of fatalities to 19, and Chief Medical Officer Tony Holohan said he was particularly concerned about the increase in admissions to intensive care.

Of 1,383 cases confirmed by Tuesday, 340 patients had been hospitalised with 47 of those admitted to ICU. Ireland, which has an ICU capacity of about 500 beds, has reported over 400 more cases since then that have yet to be analysed.

Varadkar said the number of deaths will rise considerably over the next couple of days and weeks and that the objective is to slow down the rate of cases and hospitalisations, reduce them and start getting Ireland “back to some degree of normality”.

“As things stand, we have empty beds in our ICUs but just the way things are heading would indicate that our ICUs will be at capacity within a few days,” Varadkar told reporters.

“That’s already the case across Europe, it looks like it may happen here so we need to plan for that. We need to make sure we have backup ICU capacity, ventilators, CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) machines. All that is happening. An unprecedented effort is being made to tool up.”

Health Minister Simon Harris said another concern was the fact that 56% of cases are in Dublin and 11% in the next largest city of Cork, possibly prompting specific measures to try slow down the spread in certain areas, he told Newstalk radio.

Ireland significantly increased income support for those who had already lost their jobs or were at risk of joining them this week. A government official told a news conference that the state had experienced “unprecedented demand” since March 13.

The applications for the special pandemic unemployment benefit and regular jobseekers payment equated to 10 months worth of normal claim load in just 10 days, Elizabeth Canavan, an assistant secretary at Varadkar’s department, said.

In a bid to slow an unemployment surge a state-funded think tank warned could hit 18% by summer from 4.8% last month, the government will pay 70% of workers’ wages for struggling firms and is urging many to re-employ staff already cut.

Some 11,200 firms applied for the assistance within hours of the scheme opening on Friday, the head of Ireland’s tax authority, Niall Cody, told national broadcaster RTE.

(Reporting by Padraic Halpin; Editing by Catherine Evans and Angus MacSwan)

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