Warning as new Covid variant now accounts for one third of hospital admissions

AN URGENT warning has been issued over the new Covid-19 variant now accounting for one-third of the hospital admissions.

A virologist urged people that Covid-19 isn’t gone as a new variant of the disease has made its way across the United Kingdom and Ireland.

A 24 per cent increase in admission to United Kingdom hospitals has been reported in the previous week for KP.3 – a subvariant of the deadly contagious Omicron strain.

The strain has been reported that made its way over from the United States of America, which saw COVID-19 cases surge by 69 per cent in recent weeks as a result of the new variants.

At the beginning of the month, KP.3 was linked to a third of infections in the United States.

In recent weeks, the new virus strain has been spreading to the United Kingdom and Ireland – resulting in a surge of Covid-19 cases.

Professor Lawrence from Young of Warwick University stated this is “a wake up call” as he noted that the virus hasn’t gone away – and it was “certainly not a seasonal infection”.

Speaking to i, he said: “A combination of new, more infectious virus variants and waning immunity is very likely contributing to these increased levels of infections.

“The hope is that this will not result in a big wave of infection but we need to keep a close watch.”

Earlier this month, an urgent COVID-19 alert was issued after the number of cases reported shot up to 306 in a week.

Health bosses have also issued a major symptom warning, advising people they still need to isolate if they have symptoms.

According to the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) reported Covid-19 cases have now jumped to 306.

This averages at about 5.96 weekly cases per 100k of the population.

153 people have also been hospitalised with the virus although no ICU admissions have been reported.

Health bosses have warned that cases are on the rise not just in Ireland but across Europe.

The 306 cases is a 19.1 per cent increase from the previous week’s 257 cases.

INCREASE IN HOSPITAL ADMISSIONS

Hospital admissions are also up by around 10% jumping from 110 cases the previous week.

The current week 21 data includes dates May 19 to May 25 and the HPSC have warned the upward trend looks set to continue to the current date.

It comes as the most recent update on Covid-19 related deaths this year shows that 130 people died between January 2024 and April 2024.

The average age of those who passed away is between 82 and 85.

Dublin and Cork have the highest number of cases reported at the beginning of the month, with 58 in Dublin and 41 in Cork.

Wexford follows with 25 cases and Kerry with 22.

Mayo and Louth are the lowest with only one case in Mayo and none in Louth.

The average age of reported cases throughout 2024 is between 60 and 69 but the age range of confirmed cases ranges from zero to 103.