DUBLIN, Jan. 3 (Xinhua) -- The total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Ireland topped 100,000 as the country reported a record high of 4,962 new cases on Sunday.
The country now has a total of 101,887 cases, the Irish Department of Health said in a statement. The death toll from COVID-19 in Ireland, meanwhile, increased by seven in the day to 2,259.
As of Sunday afternoon, 685 COVID-19 patients are being treated in Irish hospitals, of whom 62 are in intensive care units, it said, adding that 96 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized in the past 24 hours.
"We are seeing a really significant surge in infection, which is leading to a very rapid increase in both hospitalizations and admissions to critical care units. This is... unsustainable for the health system," said Tony Holohan, chief medical officer of the Department of Health.
Earlier in the day, Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin said in a tweet that "With COVID case numbers rising rapidly, it's important than ever that each and every one of us does what is being asked of us. Stay home and strictly limit social contacts."
Deputy Prime Minister Leo Varadkar told national radio and television broadcaster RTE on Sunday that the current restrictions should be left in place until those most at risk have been vaccinated, even if that means going into February.
He also said that additional restrictions could be applied, but the current restrictive measures were only brought in on Dec. 30 and must be given time to work.
The government placed the entire country back on a full Level-5, or the highest level response to COVID-19, after easing restrictions for the Christmas and New Year holidays given the fact that the number of COVID-19 cases in the country had bounced back sharply following the easing.
The Level-5 restrictions will remain in place until Jan. 31. Under the Level-5 restrictions, people are not allowed to travel more than 5 kilometers away from home and all the non-essential retail outlets have to be closed.
Ireland started to vaccinate its population with the vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech at the end of 2020.
According to the website of the World Health Organization, as of Dec. 29, there were 232 COVID-19 candidate vaccines being developed worldwide, 60 of them under clinical trials.
A couple of vaccines developed by pharmaceutical companies from the United States, Germany, Russia and China have so far been authorized by several countries and regions for emergency use. Enditem
