The current level of COVID-19 in Ireland is having a negative impact on the health of the people of Ireland and placing an enormous burden on our entire health system, from public health to general practice to our acute hospitals.
Non-COVID care – including cancer surgery, cardiac care, hip and knee replacements, mental ill-health and all of the common ailments that, if identified and treated promptly, may be prevented from deteriorating further – continues to be severely impacted.
We are all, understandably, very tired of this pandemic. Time and again we have asked the Irish people to take on board public health messaging and act for the collective good. And time and again the vast majority have listened to that message and responded.
Over 90% of those eligible have come forward for vaccination and this high-level of vaccination uptake is having a positive effect, especially in preventing severe illness, hospitalisation, and deaths. We know that booster vaccines will add to this protection. They are already having a positive impact in those who have received them. It is really important that if you are called for your booster, you come forward for it straight away.
At high levels of transmission, we are very vulnerable to sudden, unsustainable surges of infection, such as we are seeing at the moment. It is for this reason that we must now ask people to continue to heed public health messages. We know that this call is more difficult to respond to now than at any time...
[OSEN=Seon Mi-kyung Reporter] Rapper Yang Hong-won, who has sparked controversy over infidelity allegations just five days after his marriage, is drawing attention for reportedly singing his wife W...