Ireland's health system is coming under "increasing strain" as COVID-19 hospitalisations continue to reach record numbers, according to the CEO of the HSE.
Latest figures from this morning show there are now 1,421 people in hospital with coronavirus.
That marks an increase of 136 on the same time yesterday.
Additionally, there are 120 patients in intensive care with the virus, 13 more than yesterday.
Paul Reid said on Twitter: "Our health system is under increasing strain.
"The best support we can all now give is to avoid getting sick with COVID. This will help to get us out the other side of this."
There were 4,842 new cases of coronavirus confirmed in the Republic yesterday, with nine further deaths also reported.
Countries with the most daily confirmed COVID-19 cases per million people:
🇮🇪 Ireland 1225
🇨🇿 Czechia 1035
🇬🇧 United Kingdom 877
🇸🇮 Slovenia 871
🇮🇱 Israel 806
🇵🇦 Panama 772
🇺🇸 United States 747
🇸🇪 Sweden 737
🇱🇹 Lithuania 663
🇵🇹 Portugal 646
Source: https://t.co/SQYpwxfpKz pic.twitter.com/LmFDzQvBSy— Edouard Mathieu (@redouad) January 9, 2021
It comes as the HSE plan to take emergency control of up to 30% of private hospital capacity could come into effect within days.
Under the terms of the contract, seen by the Business Post, it could be triggered if key indicators, such as an ICU number of more than 130, are met.
In a worst-case scenario, the HSE has warned admissions could reach 2,500 in hospital and 400 in ICU by the middle of this month.
Speaking on Newstalk Breakfast with Susan Keogh today, Dr Margaret Harris of the WHO, said Ireland and other countries around the world are paying a "high" price for gatherings at Christmas.
