744 #covid19ireland patients in hospitals this morning, the highest number since the very end of April.

51 admissions, 13 discharges in the last 24 hours.

Elsewhere, 198 on trolleys in hospitals this morning - much lower than previous Januarys, but one health source points out (a) people staying away due to Covid fears, (b) no flu, (c) despite extra capacity to deal with crisis, (d) many staff missing on self-isolation… not ideal.

People asking about 'no flu' here… Ireland has not had an officially diagnosed case of flu since the last week of March.

Blue and yellow bars below are confirmed flu cases; the red line is 'influenza-like illness' (guess what?). Graph last updated on Dec 20.

Although Ireland has been doing much less flu testing (capacity directed elsewhere), last weekly HPSC report:

"Globally despite continued or even increased influenza testing in some countries, influenza activity remained at lower levels than expected for this time of the year."

There are a few reasons for this - far less international travel to bring new strains into Ireland; people not meeting up as much; increased hygiene measures; people with flu-like Covid symptoms having to self-isolate (even if negative) until symptoms disappear.

Also: 1,171,881 flu vaccines were issued between Sept 1 and Dec 20