The World Health Organisation has given a grim timeline for the potential arrival of the next surge of Covid cases in Ireland - but Professor Luke O’Neill says he ‘distrusts’ the data.
According to projections published by the World Health Organisation, the next wave could arrive at the height of the summer - in the next three to six weeks, and then once again in three months' time.
However, Prof O'Neill told Newstalk’s Pat Kenny this morning that the likelihood is that it won't arrive until September.
He explained: "That's the modelling, these famous modelers project these things out.
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"The trajectory of the virus would suggest we're going to get a surge.
"We'll be pretty confident there'll be one in September, because as we head back into the autumn and the winter and so on the case numbers should go up.
"But it's a bit distrusting it's in three months, in a way, because that's the thick of summer.”
He said “it's a bit strange” and that he is “not quite sure how they've got that.
"I suspect it's these graphs they draw and they see the trajectory, and they predict a surge".
Meanwhile, this afternoon, Irish health officials have been notified of 2,370 new cases of the virus.
Of these cases, 1,149 PCR-confirmed cases of Covid-19. In addition, on Wednesday 27 April, 1,221 people registered a positive antigen test through the HSE portal.
As of 8:00 am today, 412 COVID-19 patients are hospitalised, of whom 36 are in ICU.
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