The Department of Public Health Mid-West is advising people in Clare to limit social contacts during New Year’s Eve celebrations.
It comes as a record 20,554 new cases were confirmed yesterday.
Meanwhile, a walk-in booster vaccination clinic is taking place in Ennis today until 1.30pm.
The latest indications show that the number of daily cases in the Mid-West are more than double what they were before Christmas.
However, due to the current volume of cases, these figures may be even higher due to delays in reporting and the difficulty in accessing a PCR test at present.
Public Health Mid-West expects to see a further significant increase in COVID-19 cases across all age groups in the community in the coming days and weeks, due to the impact of social activity over the holiday period and the presence of the Omicron variant.
The Department are appealing to everyone eligible for a booster vaccine to avail of the HSE vaccine clinic at the West County Hotel in Ennis or to do so via a GP or participating pharmacy.
The next walk-in clinic at Clare’s vaccine centre takes place on Sunday from 8.30am-12.30pm for over 30’s and from 1.30pm-7.00pm for under 30’s who received the Janssen vaccine.
Dr Rose Fitzgerald, Specialist in Public Health Medicine with Public Health Mid-West is warning we’ve yet to see the true impact of Christmas celebrations and the current Omicron wave and is appealing to anyone who is displaying symptoms, is awaiting a PCR test or has any doubt that they could have been exposed to the virus to not attend a gathering this evening.
Public Health MidWest are reminding people to follow key public health advice in terms of sanitation, ventilation and mask-wearing and not to rely on a negative antigen test result if symptomatic.
