Mayo University Hospital has been dealing with a significant increase in the number of Covid positive patients it has been seeing along with very high numbers of people using the emergency department recently.
The hospital earlier this week was also dealing with a Covid-19 outbreak on one ward, which led to it being closed to admissions and access for visitors to the ward limited on compassionate grounds only - with visits having to be arranged in advance.
The pressures being put on the hospital by the increase in cases and high community transmission rates which were affecting staffing levels saw the hospital having to cancel impatient elective procedures on Tuesday this week.
The latest HSE Daily Operations Figures showed that there are 48 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the hospital as of 8pm on Wednesday, July 6, the eighth highest in the country.
The number marked an increase of 12 on seven days previously, Wednesday, June 29, when there were 36 cases in the hospital - and a massive jump from two weeks before that - Wednesday, June 22, when there were just 19 Covid-19 cases in the hospital.
