The variant accounts for around 70% of Covid cases in Ireland.
The HSE's Chief Clinical Officer says it's hard to know how a surge of cases of the delta variant of COVID-19 will impact the hospital system.
However, Dr Colm Henry admits that the conversion of cases to hospitalisations will be slower than it was in January, thanks to the vaccine rollout.
The chief medical officer says the situation's a 'cause for concern', and NPHET will monitor what's happening over the coming weeks..
As of midnight, Monday 5th July, we are reporting 397* confirmed cases of #COVID19.
— Department of Health (@roinnslainte) July 6, 2021
16 in ICU. 54 in hospital.
*Daily case numbers may change due to future data review, validation and update.
Professor Sam McConkey is Head of the Department of International Health & Tropical Medicine at RCSI.
He joined Clem Ryan on Wednesday's edition of Kildare Today.

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