DUBLIN (Reuters) – Ireland’s intensive care units will be at capacity within a few days given the rate of spread of coronavirus and the health service has plans in place to deal with the demand, Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said on Friday.
“I am (concerned). As things stand, we have empty beds in our ICUs but just the way things are heading would indicate that our ICUs will be at capacity within a few days,” Varadkar told reporters.
“That’s already the case across Europe, it looks like it may happen here so we need to plan for that. We need to make sure we have backup ICU capacity, ventilators, CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) machines. All that is happening. An unprecedented effort is being made to tool up.”
(Reporting by Padraic Halpin; Editing by Catherine Evans)
