The head of the HSE says we are now firmly in the midst of the fourth surge of Covid-19.
Paul Reid, who is appearing before an Oireachtas Health Committee, says the entire health system is under very serious pressure.
130 patients are in intensive care with the virus.
CEO Paul Reid says we're in a different situation now.
"The difference between January this year when we had over 2,000 in hospital and over 212 people in ICU, versus now with 636 in hospital and 130 in ICU.
"It's not a fair comparison, as back in January we were not carrying out all of the services that we are now carrying out, and the whole state was in complete lockdown."
