The number of people in hospitals with flu has increased rapidly, with a total of 869 cases admitted as of this morning, the HSE has said.
On Friday, 742 people were admitted to hospital with flu, with a further 67 admitted yesterday.
There were 530 people with flu in hospitals last Sunday.
Health Service Executive CEO Bernard Gloster said the numbers are expected to increase, but cases are still estimated to peak at around 900 in the coming week.
Speaking on RTE’s This Week, he said that between 20 and 27 December, 34,400 people attended emergency departments and that 8,500 were admitted compared to 7,800 for the same period last year.
Mr Gloster said the issue now was not the peak of the flu, but rather how long the tail of the flu will last, which can impact right through January.
“We are…