DR TONY HOLOHAN has hinted that families getting together over the festive period has led to Ireland experiencing its highest ever daily Covid-19 death toll.
The country hit the unfortunate landmark on Tuesday, with 101 Covid-related fatalities confirmed.
Ireland's overall death toll from the virus now stands at 3,418.
Speaking about the harrowing statistics, Chief Medical Officer Dr Holohan said the recent death count has come as a direst result of the surge in cases seen around Christmas time.
"This is the highest number of deaths we have reported on any single day of the Covid-19 pandemic so far," he said.
"The high mortality we are experiencing as a country at the moment is related to the surge in infection we saw several weeks ago, and the hospitalisations and admissions to ICU that followed as a direct result.
"Although we have seen great improvement in the level of infection being reported, we have a long way to go and incidence needs to decline much further.
"The best way to honour those who have died from Covid-19, and those who loved them or provided care for them, is to follow the public health advice.
"Stay at home unless absolutely necessary, and encourage your friends, family and colleagues to do the same.
"What we can have control over today is the outlook of this disease in the weeks to come.
"Your positive actions matter, and they add up at a collective level. Please keep it up."
Ireland experienced a significant rise in coronavirus cases during the month of December for a number of reasons:
The country's second nationwide lockdown had just been lifted, families began gathering at Christmas again, high street shopping increased in the run up to the holidays, and thousands of people flew into the country - notably from the UK, bringing the UK variant with them.
