There have been 15 further deaths related to Covid-19 notified in Ireland in the past week, according to the National Public Health Emergency Team, bringing the number of Covid-related deaths to 5,074.
It comes as the Department of Health was notified of 1,861 further Covid-19 cases.
There are 249 people being treated with the virus in hospital, up one on yesterday. There are 54 Covid-19 patients in intensive care.
Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan said that 43% of patients in ICU are below the age of 50.
He said that this is "a stark reminder to all of us to continue to adhere to the public health guidance and to ensure to receive both doses of Covid-19 vaccine as soon as it offered".
Dr Holohan said that the incidence of the disease is increasing across all age groups.
He said that people who are fully vaccinated are protected from severe illness and he urged people to continue adhering to public health guidelines.
COVID-19 vaccines are ensuring that those who are fully vaccinated are protected from the severe illness and poor outcomes related to this disease. For every fully vaccinated confirmed case of #COVID19, we know that vaccines are preventing about 4 other cases.
— Dr Tony Holohan (@CMOIreland) August 18, 2021
Meanwhile, new figures from the Health Protection Surveillance Centre show that in the two weeks up to last Monday, 111 patients contracted Covid-19 in a healthcare setting.
It represents just 0.5% of all cases during the period.
Eighty health staff also contracted the virus in a healthcare setting, representing just 0.3% of all cases in the period.
The number of close contacts of a confirmed case who tested positive was 11,179, representing over 47% of all cases during the two weeks.
In all, 956 cases of Covid-19 were travel-related, representing 4.1% of all cases during the period.
The President of the Irish Association of Emergency Medicine has said that social distancing cannot be achieved in emergency departments and other hospital departments, as long as there are patients on trolleys in corridors and inadequate acute bed capacity.
Speaking on RTÉ's News at One, Dr Fergal Hickey said: "As long as we have patients on trolleys taking up corridor space, often very close to one other, we cannot achieve the social distancing that is advised to the public."
He said they are "forcing those patients and then forcing staff to look after them in an unsafe environment".
Dr Hickey said emergency departments are set up for same-day care, adding that: "In the last six weeks, most emergency departments in the country have set new daily records for attendance, so we are under significant pressure.
"Adding to it is going to make the situation worse and not addressing the underlying problem is the basic issue."
He said Covid-19 has not gone away and there are lots of Covid-19 patients in hospital, in intensive care and in the community.
Read more:
Latest coronavirus stories
VACCINATION UPDATE
— Brian MacCraith (@muirtheimhne) August 18, 2021
💉 >90% of adults have received at least 1 vaccine dose
💉 ~83% of adults fully vaccinated
💉 >75% of eligible population (12+) fully vaccinated
💉 6.46m vaccine doses administered to date@HSELive#ForUsAll#DoChách pic.twitter.com/oS0pSW0Sbj
Meanwhile, the chair of the Covid-19 vaccination task force said over 75% of the eligible population is fully vaccinated.
In a post on Twitter, Professor Brian MacCraith said that over 6.5 million vaccine doses have now been administered.
He said more than 90% of adults have received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine and that almost 83% are now fully vaccinated.
Vaccines arrive from Romania
Health Service Executive CEO Paul Reid said the biggest weekly delivery of vaccines was received this morning.
More than 540,000 doses were delivered, he wrote on Twitter, "hugely boosted by the first tranche of a total of 700,000 Romanian reallocated vaccines".
Mr Reid said it was important that "we get to the smaller percentages of people now unvaccinated".
Today we received our biggest weekly delivery of vaccines to this country of over 540,000 doses. This was hugely boosted by the first tranche of a total of 700,000 Romanian reallocated vaccines. It's key that we get to the smaller percentages of people now unvaccinated @HSELive pic.twitter.com/XCd3WczE7c
— Paul Reid (@paulreiddublin) August 18, 2021
Earlier, a professor of immunology at Maynooth University said the advice from the National Immunisation Advisory Committee that Covid-19 vaccines can be mixed in certain circumstances will have a limited impact, but could be of benefit within a wider vaccine booster programme.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Professor Paul Moynagh said it will benefit people who have already had one dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine to be given a mRNA vaccine as their second dose as this will afford better protection.
He said that a bigger context may be if the State decides to pursue a Covid-19 booster programme or to provide a booster vaccine to those people who got one dose of the Janssen vaccine.
Prof Moynagh said that the need for booster vaccines has arisen from the emergence of breakthrough infection in those who are vaccinated, which may be as a result of waning immunity combined with the virulence of the Delta variant.
