The President of the Irish Association of Emergency Medicine, Conor Deas,y on Friday told the Six One News on RTÉ that the peak of the flu virus in Ireland will occur in or around Christmas Day.

Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) data up to last Friday, August 16th shows there were 587 cases last week, 238 people needed to be hospitalised, two were admitted to Intensive Care Units (ICU) and there was one death. 

Higher levels of the Covid-19 virus have been found in wastewater in recent weeks

A HSE risk assessment warned of a high risk of measles spreading in asylum seeker accommodation and direct provision centres as uptake for the vaccine across Ireland was described as “suboptimal”

Measles is a highly contagious disease, which is spread by coughs and sneezes and can be serious at any age.

Close to 370 people were hospitalised by the illness last week.