Many people can’t get a PCR test.

Data provided to the government suggests that official Covid statistics in the last few weeks may have underreported the true figure by as many as 150,000 cases.

PCR tests have been infamously hard to come by in recent weeks, with slots only becoming available at midnight each night and “selling out” in a matter of minutes. As a result, people have been relying on antigen tests conducted at home, and results have not been reported to the HSE.

As things stand, symptomatic people under the age of 39 are not advised to book a PCR test unless they have a positive antigen result.

Officially, 17,656 new cases were confirmed yesterday. As of Thursday morning, there are 941 people in hospital with Covid, 94 of whom are receiving intensive care. Sadly, 40 new deaths due to Covid have also been notified over the past week – taking Ireland’s total death toll due to the virus to 5,952.

Local data for case numbers in Cork, which have not been updated since Christmas Eve, will be updated over the next few days.