Latest Covid figures confirmed as number of patients in hospital rises slightly

A TOTAL of 6,618 new PCR-confirmed cases of Covid-19 have been reported across Ireland this Friday.

The Health Protection Surveillance Centre confirmed the news this afternoon, while also reporting that a further 4,445 people have registered a positive antigen test through the HSE's online portal.

The number of PCR-confirmed cases is higher then the number reported on Thursday while the number of self-reported antigen cases is lower.

Meanwhile, the Department of Health says that as of 8am today, there were 615 Covid-19 patients in hospitals across the country of which 64 were in ICU.

This compares to 595 patients with 63 in ICU at the same time 24 hours earlier.

The Department of Health says all data relating to new cases of Covid-19 is provisional and the HPSC and its surveillance partners will continue to notify and process cases and outbreaks of the disease on CIDR system.