More than 200 patients contracted Covid-19 while in hospital for other reasons in recent weeks, new Health Service Executive (HSE) figures show.
There have been 219 confirmed cases of patients acquiring Covid-19 inside acute hospitals in the four weeks up to December 13th, according to figures provided to The Irish Times.
Some 90 patients contracted the virus while in hospital in the week up to November 22nd, with 46 cases of hospital-acquired Covid-19 in the last week of November.
There were 51 confirmed cases of patients contracting the virus from others while in hospitals in the first week of December, and 32 hospital-acquired cases in the week up to December 13th.
In most cases patients will be tested for Covid-19 as they are admitted into hospital, and then regularly tested afterwards.
A HSE spokeswoman said the “control of hospital-acquired Covid-19 is critical to protect patients from infection, to protect healthcare workers from exposure and to reassure prospective patients who need hospital services that it is safe to come to hospital.”
The HSE reviews and monitors the level of hospital-acquired cases each week, and provides additional support to hospitals dealing with outbreaks of the virus, she said.
Overall there were 241 patients with Covid-19 in acute hospitals on Monday, and 29 in intensive-care units. There have been 18 additional hospitalisations in the past 24 hours, according to figures released on Monday night.
Latest figures up to Sunday evening show Beaumont Hospital in north Dublin, was currently treating the largest number of Covid-19 patients with 47 confirmed cases. This was followed by Letterkenny General Hospital in Co Donegal (32), St Luke’s Hospital in Kilkenny (22) and, in south Dublin, St Vincent’s hospital (16), and Tallaght Hospital (14).
