The number of Covid patients in hospital has increased by over 50% over the past week.
Today's figure is 271 - compared to 180 last Tuesday morning.
The number of Covid patients in intensive care remains stable, at 23.
Professor of Comparative Immunology at Trinity College Dublin, Cliona O' Farrelly, says a change in behaviour is causing the spike in the number of people in hospital with the virus:
"We no longer do social distancing, we're not wearing our masks, we're in crowds. People saw what was happening in the airport and the vast majority of us are vaccinated, so many of us who pick up an infection will pass it on without knowing it. Many people are symptomless, so that's how come 50% in the hospitals would have been picked up when they went into the hospital because there was no other reason to think that they were positive before they went in."
