Here's A Reminder Of Today's Covid Headlines
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1,978 new covid-19 cases have been confirmed in Ireland today - the highest figure since the end of January.
Hospitals are now caring for 221 patients with the virus.
43 people are being treated in intensive care units, with 8 of them being admitted within the past 24 hours.
The Deputy Chief Medical officer, Ronan Glynn, has warned incidence rates are rising across all 26 counties and is is particularly high in those aged 16-29 years.
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1,389 people have tested positive for the coronavirus in the North in the last 24 hours.
There have been 4 additional covid related deaths.
359 patients are being treated for the disease in hospitals in Northern Ireland, with 44 in ICU.
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The ASTI is calling on the Education Minister to allow pregnant teachers to continue to work from home.
They're said to be terrified at having to return to school due to the delta variant and the number of unvaccinated students they may come into contact with.
Pregnant educators were permitted to work remotely before the summer holidays.
ASTI General Secretary Kieran Christie says they will review their position once the vaccination programme is complete.
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The Pfizer, BioNTech and Moderna firms are expected to reap billions of dollars from Covid-19 booster shots.
The Pharmaceutical companies have together locked up over 50 billion Euro in sales of the shots just in 2021 and 2022.
A growing list of governments including Germany and Israel, have decided to offer booster doses to the vulnerable to stave off the spreading Delta variant.
Analysts have forecast revenue of over €5.5 billion for the Pfizer/BioNTech shot and €6.4 billion for Moderna in 2023, mostly from booster sales.
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The HSE says there was temporary disruption to the Covax IT vaccination system earlier today.
However, the HSE says the situation has now been rectified.
It says vaccinations continued without interruption despite the earlier disruption.
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65,000 12 to 15 year olds have registered for a Covid 19 vaccine.
The HSE Chief Executive says many of these will be administered this weekend.
Paul Reid says over 80 per cent of adults are now fully vaccinated and almost 90 per cent partially vaccinated.
He says Ireland is right to be proud of the programme and the public's response.
